Beekeeping in The Tropics

Agrodok 32
Beekeeping in the tropics
P. Segeren
Agromisa Foundation, Wageningen, 2004.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photocopy,
microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
First English edition: 1988
Third revised edition: 1991
Fourth English edition: 1996
Fifth English edition: 2004
Author: P. Segeren
Printed by: Digigrafi, Wageningen, the Netherlands
ISBN: 90-77073-57-4
NUGI: 835
Foreword
You can keep bees as an interesting hobby, or as a main or an extra
source of income. This booklet mainly provides information on how
to work with honey-bees that nest in cavities. In most of the world
regions this will be the European bee Apis mellifera, but in large parts
of (sub)tropical Asia the quite similar species A.cerana is mainly used.
Although the composition of a honey-bee colony is basically the same
all over the world, the management of bees must be adapted to the
species and race, the climate and the vegetation.
If you want to start keeping bees it is recommended to work with an
experienced beekeeper for at least one year. The finer skills of this
occupation can only be learnt from experience.
You can obtain information from your Ministry of Agriculture or Forestry. In many cases this Ministry has a Department of Apiculture,
which organises demonstrations and courses, offers assistance and
sometimes also provides bee colonies.
If you want to improve beekeeping in your area, start with the existing
local methods and try to improve these step by step instead of introducing an entirely new method.
This booklet therefore stresses the importance of starting at the local
level and to experience the profits beekeeping might offer. Low input
techniques, implying the use of local bees, local knowledge and local
material can be the basis of a successful development of beekeeping
for individuals as well as large scale programmes.
The Authors
Foreword
Contents
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
The value of beekeeping

Honey
Wax
Pollen and Propolis
Pollination
6
6
6
7
8
Species and races of bees
3
3.1
3.2
3.3
Composition of the colony

The Queen
The workers
The drones
12
12
13
16
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
The daily life of a colony

The swarm
The development of the bee
The development of the colony
Swarming
Absconding from the hive
Replacement of the queen
17
17
17
18
19
21
22
5
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
The practice of beekeeping

Some basic characteristics of bees
Handling bees
Beehives
Fixed comb hives
Beehives with movable combs (top bar hives)
Hives with frames
Further requirements
Preparing the hive
Setting up the apiary
24
24
25
26
26
28
32
38
43
45
The first season
49
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
Hiving a swarm
Administration
Inspection
Feeding
Management during the growth of the colony
49
51
51
52
54
7
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
Preparing for the honey harvest

Thorough inspection
Enlarging a colony
Migratory beekeeping
Swarming
58
58
59
62
64
8
8.1
8.2
8.3
The honey harvest

Collecting honeycomb
Extracting the honey
Storing the honey
68
68
69
74
9
9.1
9.2
Processing the wax

Straining the wax
Solar wax extractor/uncapping tray
75
75
76
10
Collecting pollen
78
11 Diseases and pests

11.1 Diseases
11.2 Pests
79
79
82
Appendix 1: Sizes and dimensions
87
Appendix 2: Uses for beeswax
88
Further reading
89
Useful addresses
90
Contents
1.1
Honey
Honey consists mostly ( 80%) of sugars that are readily absorbed by

the body. It is therefore an extremely suitable food for children, sick
people and those who perform heavy manual labour.
? it can be used as a sweetener for food and drink.
? it can be used to treat superficial wounds and throat complaints.
? it is a pleasant-tasting food and an effective medicine.
? it has a high economic value and is therefore a good trade commodity.
In 1984 world honey exports totalled 270,000 tonnes, of which 60%
came from the tropics. Prices varied between US $ 0.7 and 2.5 per kg.
However, local prices are usually much higher, sometimes even up to
10 times world market prices. The honey yield depends largely on the
climate, vegetation, bee race and the skills of the beekeeper. In view
of these conditions beekeepers might, according to their income level
and skills, choose from the following possibilities:
? having a few colonies around the house.
? seasonal migration of the colonies to different forage areas.
? beekeeping as a part-time activity.
? full-time professional beekeeping.
Whatever scale is chosen, a beekeeper will be busier at certain times
of the year, for instance with preventing swarming, collecting the
honey and feeding the colonies.
In many countries honey is used to make beer, which can be healthy if
not used in too large quantities. It can be preserved and sold.
1.2
Wax
Wax is used in the manufacture of cosmetics, candles, foundation

sheets (for hives), medicines, polishes, etc. There is a good and very
stable market for beeswax. In 1990 World market prices varied between US $ 2 and 3 per kg.
Wax production varies from 0.2 - 0.5 kg per hive/year when frames
are used and from 0.5 - 2 kg when the honey is pressed and all the
combs are melted down.
See Appendix 2 for uses of beeswax.
Table 1: General averages of annual honey yields per colony:
continent
Europe
USSR
N. America
C. America
S. America
1.3
Average annual
yield
11 kg
24 kg
24 kg
25 kg
14 kg
continent
Oceania
Asia*
Africa
*Both A.cerana and
A.mellifera colonies
Average annual
yield
39 kg
18 kg
8 kg
Pollen and Propolis
With a simple trap at the flight entrance of the hive you can harvest
the pollen collected by the bees.
Bees gather an average of 100 to 200 g of pollen per colony per day:
30 to 50 kg per year! You should, of course, only collect a part of this
so that you do not seriously inhibit the development of the colony.
Pollen can contain up to 35% protein. It can be eaten dry or added to
other foods. Pollen is sold to the perfume industry and nowadays also
for consumption.
Propolis is a resin that bees collect from plants and they use it to cover
the inside of the hive. The market trend for propolis is increasing as it
has some therapeutic and antibiotic characteristics. A.cerana does not
collect propolis.
Pollen must be protected against moisture. It attracts water (hygroscopic) and deteriorates quickly when attacked by fungi. Try to dry
pollen in hot weather by spreading it in a thin layer in the shade where
a breeze is felt. Store pollen in airtight earthenware pots or closed bottles. Well dried pollen should crack between your teeth like rice.
1.4
Pollination
The greatest value of beekeeping lies in the fact that bees pollinate
agricultural and horticultural plants.
When a bee has found the flowers of a certain kind of plant she will
encourage her hivemates to use this source. The bees will visit these
flowers as long as food (pollen and nectar) is available. This flower
constancy makes bees exceptionally valuable to plants which need to
be cross-pollinated. If there are enough bee colonies in the area at
flowering time the plants will give higher yields and the quality of the
fruits will also be improved. However, in many tropical regions farmers are still unaware of the beneficial effect of bees to their crops.
The importance of pollination by bees has been demonstrated for the
following plant species:
Almond
Avocado
Cherry
Coffee
Lychee
Papaya
Plum
Sesame
Apple
Beans
Citrus spp
Guava
Mango
Passion fruit
Pyrethrum
Sunflower
Apricot
Berries
Clover
Gourds
Melon
Peach
Rambutan
Tomato
Aubergine
Cashew
Coconut
Longan
Mustardseed
Pear
Rapeseed
Apis mellifera
This honey-bee is the most widespread economic species. It is native
in Europe, the near and middle East of Asia and Africa. There are
about 25 races, of which the most important are:
A.m.ligustica
known as the Italian bee. This race is very adaptable to different environments.
A.m.intermissa
native to the north coast of Africa, a black race suited to these dry
zones.
A.m.adasonii
native to coastal West Africa, and A.m.scutellata, native to Central and
Eastern Africa: both of these species have a very pronounced, defensive behaviour and are prone to swarming and absconding (meaning:
the entire colony leaves the old hive).
A.mellifera bees
have been introduced in many other tropical regions. In the Americas
initially European A.mellifera was introduced, but some decades ago
the African mellifera was imported into Brazil and quickly spread all
over tropical S.America where it is now known as the African bee.
This bee is now moving north and has reached the USA. Its very
dominant defensive behaviour and tendency to quick swarming has
made beekeeping more complicated in these areas. One implication is
that colonies should be kept away from houses and roads where people live or pass.
Apis cerana
This Asian bee is quite similar to A.mellifera as it also nests in cavities, such as hives. Similar types of beekeeping can be done with both
species. However, there are also important differences, especially in

biology and behaviour. The most productive race is A.cerana cerana
in China, least productive with much smaller colonies is A.cerana indica in India and South East Asia and A. cerana javana.
It is useful to know that tropical A.mellifera and A.cerana races are
smaller than European A.mellifera. In most literature, however, the
European A.mellifera is referred to. It is therefore important to note,
when you read the descriptions of dimensions of hives, frames, queen
excluder, foundation sheet (cell size) and width of the comb spacing
(natural distance of the combs), the species and the races to which
these descriptions refer.
Appendix 1 gives a list with some of these specific dimensions.
Other bee species
Two other Apis species are found in Asia south of the Himalayas and
China:
A.dorsata
the rock bee, with a single comb-nest built on rock or a branch of a
tree.
A.florea
the dwarf bee, which builds a small single comb-nest around a twig of
a shrub or a tree.
In Asia A.dorsata has been the most important honey and wax producer. Nests are mainly exploited by so-called honey hunters and
honey collectors. Domestication of these bees does not seem possible.
Stingless bees (e.g. Melipona and Trigona species) can be found all
over the tropics. They usually live in small colonies in cavities. In
Central and South America there is an old tradition of meliponiculture. Some species are kept in logs, man-made, boxes or clay pots.
Yields per colony are small: 1-4 litres per year, but they can be kept in
high numbers and the honey yields high prices compared with
A.mellifera honey.
10
These bees cannot sting, but some defend their nest by biting with
their strong jaws. Nests are usually built with extensive use of resins,
clay and wax. Beekeeping with stingless bees is very different from
beekeeping with honey-bees because of their different biology, e.g.
nest architecture.
This book deals exclusively with beekeeping of honey-bees (apiculture).
11
In a bee colony there are two female castes: the queen and the worker,
and males: the drones (figure 1).
Figure 1: Queen (A), drone (B) and worker (C).
3.1
The Queen
The queen can be recognised by her long abdomen which extends far
beyond the tip of her wings in the resting position. Her thorax is larger
than that of the worker. Viewed from the front, her head is round.
There is only one queen in each bee colony. As soon as there is a second queen there will be a fight which ends with the death of one of the
queens, usually the oldest (weakest). The queen is usually the only
female which lays eggs. Because a queen produces the most eggs in
the first year of her life the best queens are not more than 2 years old.
The maximum egg production is 3000 for the western honeybee and
800 for the eastern honey-bee.
Before the queen starts laying eggs she makes a nuptial flight. For this
purpose she is driven outside by the worker bees some days after the
new hive has been occupied. While in flight she mates with about ten
drones. The spermatozoids which she has obtained from the matings
are stored and kept alive in a special reservoir (spermatheca) in her
abdomen. As long as there are spermatozoids in this reservoir (with
successful matings this can be for 3 - 5 years) the queen can lay fertilised eggs.
12
Fertilized eggs develop into females, queens or worker bees. Unfertilized eggs which are laid in larger horizontal cells will produce drones.
Some days after the nuptial flight the queen begins to lay eggs.
Fertilised eggs are laid in the
small
six-sided
horizontal
worker cells and in the round
hanging queen cells (figure 2).
The queen cannot collect any
food herself and therefore has to
be fed with a special food from
the head glands of the workers.
The queen has a thick, curved
sting with which she can kill Figure 2: Part of comb. A: queen
other queens.
cell; B: worker cell.
3.2
The workers
A large colony can consist of more than 50,000 workers. Viewed from
the front the worker has a triangular shape. The tips of her wings in
the rest position cover the end of her abdomen. One segment of her
hind legs bears two rows of long hairs between which the pollen is
carried. The pollen that covers the bee's body after her visit to a flower
is stored and transported in these baskets. She uses the brushes on her
legs to clean the body and to push the pollen into the baskets.
The pollen collectors empty the contents of their baskets into the cells
of the comb surrounding the brood cell area.
The extended mouthparts together form a tube through which the nectar can be sucked up. The bee transports the nectar in her nectar sac
and when she has returned to the colony she passes the contents of this
sac to another bee. After the nectar has been passed several times from
bee to bee, it is stored in a cell of the comb. During this processing of
the nectar the water evaporates and enzymes are added to it which
convert complex sugars to easily absorbed simple sugars (glucose and
13
fructose). When the honey is sufficiently concentrated the cell is

closed with a wax capping (sealed honey).
The workers are equipped with a straight, slender sting which is made
up of two small lancets attached to a stiletto. Bee venom is produced
in two glands in the abdomen of the bee and is stored in the venom
sac. When a bee stings, the venom is pumped into the victim through
the sting. When a bee stings a warm-blooded animal (including man)
the sting cannot be withdrawn because of the barbs on the lancets and
stiletto. The sting apparatus and the venom sac break off when the bee
tries to escape and shortly after stinging the bee dies from the damage
to its abdomen. If a bee stings you, first kill it because the behaviour
of this bee will incite other bees to sting too. Then quickly scrape the
sting from your skin with a clean nail or another sharp object. Do not
pull it out between finger and thumb, because you will force even
more venom into your skin.
The younger house bees work within the colony. Depending on the
needs of the colony, they perform the following tasks:
? Cleaning the cells and removing debris and dead bees from the bottom of the hive.
? Feeding the queen, the drones and the larvae which have hatched
out of the eggs. This food contains some nectar. The other food
component is brood food. This protein-rich product is made in the
head glands of the workers. The nurse bees can only produce this
food when they are able to consume enough pollen stored in the
comb. The queen needs the proteins to produce the eggs, and the
drones to produce sperm. The larvae need protein and sugar to develop into adult bees. Within six days a larva increases its weight
1500 times.
? Guarding the flight entrance of the colony.
? Maintaining the temperature of the brood combs (35 C).
? Heat is produced by vibrating the thoracic muscles.
? Producing wax, building combs and sealing the honey and brood
cells.
14
? The wax is made in the wax glands and is passed out through eight
porous wax 'mirrors' in the underside of the abdomen. The wax sets
on the surface of the wax plates into transparent wax scales which
are taken off with the legs and worked with the jaws.
? Converting the nectar into ripe honey.
When a young bee has been a house bee for about three weeks she
starts to make orientation flights. The field bee gets to know the position of all kinds of objects such as a tree, a bush, a house etc. and can
therefore always find her way back home. Foragers (field bees) can
visit an area with a radius of about 3 km. In practice this means that:
? a bee colony cannot be moved at random. The field bees would return to the old site of the colony. If you want to move the colony a
small distance, then move it 50 cm at a time, at intervals of several
days. If you cannot achieve your aim in this way, then the colony
must be placed outside the flight area, i.e. at a distance of 5 to 6 km,
for three weeks, after which time the foragers will have died. Then
the colony can be put back in any place within its previous flight
area.
? do not make any changes to the hive and the immediate surroundings during the time the young queen makes her mating flights, as
she orients herself when flying out on the first mating flight.
? a swarm orients itself on the site of its new home. If the swarm
loses its queen, however, the bees will return to their original place.
The bees can either find sources of food on their own (scout bees) or
learn about these from other forage bees through the 'bee dance'.
These sources of food are plants which produce pollen or nectar. Bees
need to be able to gather not only food but also water (mainly to regulate the temperature of the hive). If the bees cannot gather water you
must provide them with drinking basins. Put stones in the basins so
that the bees do not drown. Bees collect propolis from leaf buds etc.
and use it to seal small openings in the hive. The division of labour of
the workers described above is not based strictly on age;if you remove
the young bees from a colony, the field bees will take over their tasks,
and vice versa.
15
The life span of the workers depends on their degree of activity. If a

colony is very active and has a large brood nest to take care of the
workers live for about 6 weeks. In periods of rest (winter, the rainy
season) when there is no brood (temperate climate) or little brood
(tropical climate) this life span is many times longer (up to 6 months).
3.3
The drones
You can easily identify a drone by its stout shape. A drone is much
broader than a worker but shorter than a queen. The abdomen is not
pointed. The eyes touch each other on top of the head. Drones have no
sting. They cannot collect any food and are fed by the workers. Their
task is to mate with a young queen. They die immediately after mating
as the male genitals break off at mating, damaging the abdomen.
If there is a shortage of food in the colony the drones are no longer fed
and after a while they are dragged out of the hive. On the other hand,
when much drone brood is present in a colony, it may swarm within a
short time.
16
4.1
The swarm
Everyone must have seen a swarm of bees at some time or another.

Let us take a closer look at such a swarm and follow it.
A few bees of the swarm cluster, the scout bees, fly out to look for a
new home. Should they have discovered and approved of your hive,
the position of the hive is communicated to the bees of the swarm
cluster by means of the bee dance.
Should there be no other attractive homes, the swarm will fly to your
hive. A beekeeper can put small boxes or hives around the area in order to collect swarms. Such hives are called bait hives. The inside of a
bait hive is smeared with wax or fresh honey to attract swarms. Once a
bait hive has attracted a swarm then the swarm can be transferred into
another hive. The workers begin to build new combs or repair and
clean any existing combs. If it is a swarm with a laying queen, the first
eggs will be laid within a few days. If the swarm has a virgin queen
she will first have to make the mating flights.
4.2
The development of the bee
The eggs hatch after three days; the larval stage lasts for about 5 days.
During this period the nurse bees provide the larvae in the open cells
regularly with small quantities of food. After this the bees close the
brood cell with a porous wax capping. This is called sealed or capped
brood. The larva inside spins a cocoon, expels its excreta and then becomes a pre-pupa and pupa. The capped phase of the worker brood
lasts about 12 days. Then the bee which has developed from the pupa
gnaws away the wax capping and appears on the comb. The newly
emerged light-grey bees are easy to recognize. The drones take the
longest to develop. The open brood stage lasts about 7 days and the
capped brood stage about 15 days. The young queens, however, are
ready to emerge within 7 days. It is important for the beekeeper to
know that after a hive has lost its queen he can expect the birth of a
young queen after about 13 days.
17
Table 2: The approximate development phase in days of different

stages of European A.mellifera races.
worker
queen
drone
egg
3
3
3
open brood
5
5
7
capped brood
12
7
15
total
20
15
25
The duration of the approximate worker brood stage of African

A.mellifera races and A.cerana races may be one day shorter.
4.3
The development of the colony
If the queen is in good condition and the forage conditions are favourable (many flowering plants, good weather) the brood nest, especially
of a large colony, expands very rapidly. A.cerana and A.mellifera
colonies build parallel combs hanging from the top of the hive, each
comb consisting of a mid-rib and to each lateral side the six-sided
cells.
The queen usually begins to lay eggs on a comb and continues egg
laying on the combs left and right of this comb. If you check the first
comb after about nine days you will see successively from the centre
outwards: capped cells, old larvae, young larvae and eggs. You will
find a similar arrangement to the left and the right of this comb. If you
look at all the combs of brood together, the brood nest is ball-shaped.
The centre combs therefore have a large brood surface and the combs
to the sides of these have successively smaller brood surfaces (figure
3).
As soon as the capped brood in the centre emerges the cells are
cleaned by the youngest bees and the queen again lays eggs in these
cells. Around the brood nest we find cells filled with pollen. This
means that the combs bordering on the left and the right of the brood
nest are sometimes filled mainly with pollen. This pollen is eaten by
the young bees. The cells that become empty are either again filled
with pollen, or the queen lays eggs in them. Honey is stored in the
cells around the pollen ring, especially above the brood and pollen
cells and in increasing quantities in the combs to the left and right of
18
the movable comb of the brood nest. You will find that in a period of
strong honeyflow the area available for the brood nest will become too
small. You can expand the brood nest by placing a chamber with
empty combs under the brood nest.
Figure 3: Frame from a brood nest at three consecutive stages in

the season (left) and of a top bar hive (right).
4.4
Swarming
Even before a colony has reached its maximum size it can, in the presence of the old queen, raise new queens and the colony can split itself
into groups with one queen each. The propagation of a bee colony is
therefore called social reproduction.
Such a separate group of bees with one (or more) queens is called a
swarm. The event of a swarm leaving the colony is called swarming
This is the normal way for bee colonies to increase and disperse in the
area. It is not known exactly which factors trigger the preparation for
swarming. Too little space in the brood nest, thus limiting the number
of eggs that can be laid by the queen, is often given as an important
cause.
While you will at first find only worker brood in a growing brood
nest, drone brood will usually make its appearance before the swarming period.
19
Preparation for swarming starts with the building of swarm cups.

These are short bowl-shaped cells which have their openings facing
downwards. These swarm cups are usually found at the bottom edge,
but also at the front and back edges of the comb. The queen lays eggs
in a number of these swarm cups. After the eggs hatch the nurse bees
deposit food in these cups, and from this moment on the cups are
elongated to become swarm queen cells. Much more brood food is
deposited in a queen cell than in a worker cell, and the composition of
the food is also different (royal jelly). The reason why this fertilised
egg produces a queen and not a worker is apparently the result of the
amount and composition of the food offered to the larvae.
From the moment the queen has laid eggs in the first swarm cup the
workers offer less food to the queen. The behaviour of the workers
towards the queen alters radically as soon as the first swarm cells have
been capped. The old queen is forced to leave the hive and a part of
the colony leaves with her. At this moment the colony is swarming
and thousands of bees will circle in the air.
A swarm usually looks for a resting place in the close environment of
the hive. If the scout bees do not find a suitable nesting place, the
swarm leaves. Swarms with a young queen usually travel long distances. About one week after the departure of the first swarm (with the
old queen), the first young queens emerge. The young queen on the
comb produces a piping sound. The young queens which have not yet
emerged respond to this with a lower note. If you tap the hive and put
your ear to the wall of the hive you can hear these sounds. You will
then know that there are young queens.
Three possible situations can now arise:
1 The young queen leaves with part of the colony. If another queen
should emerge at the same time, she may fly out with the same
swarm. The swarm is divided afterwards. You can see that this is the
case when the swarm chooses a resting place; the bees form two
connected clusters instead of one.
2 The young queen kills the sister queens which are still in the queen
cells. There is no further swarming.
20
3 Several queens emerge at the same time. After a fight on the comb,
only one stays alive; no further swarming occurs.
The result is that in the end only one queen remains in this hive.
Complications: even when there are mature swarm cells in the colony
this does not necessarily mean that there will be a swarm. Queen cells
can be broken down by the colony at any stage of their development.
Furthermore, swarming can be postponed if weather conditions are
unfavourable.
4.5
Absconding from the hive
Occasionally an entire colony leaves the hive, abandoning the brood

nest. In this event no queen cells have been built and it is therefore not
a case of social reproduction.
Possible reasons for this are:
1 Shortage of food (the cluster of bees is then, incorrectly, called a
hunger swarm), or reduction in the honeyflow. Apis cerana indica
and A.mellifera adansonii will move to find enough food in the
mountain areas and the plains, and the reverse, every year (seasonal
migration).
2 Disturbance of the colony, either by ants, wasps, termites or even
the beekeeper.
3 Bad management by the beekeeper: especially in movable comb
beekeeping the beekeepers might provide unsuitable hives (too big,
too humid, bad smell) unsuitable places (too much shade, indoor
hives, no shelter from rain or excessive heat, exposed all day to the
sun). Beekeepers might have ignored the correct comb spacing by
positioning combs too widely or too narrowly spaced. (see Appendix 1 for correct measures). Contrary to European A.mellifera, both
A.cerana and tropical A.mellifera are much more prone to absconding. This characteristic behaviour makes it possible for colonies to
escape sudden dearth periods by migration to better forage areas.
21
4.6
Replacement of the queen
If the queen should die, either naturally or by accident while the beekeeper is inspecting the hive, the colony is without a queen.
Signs of loss of the queen are:
? the bees are restless.
? emergency queen cells are built on a number of worker cells with
young larvae. The hexagonal cell is rounded off and a little awning
appears at the top of the cell. The larva receives more food (in this
case royal jelly) and the horizontal worker cell is extended with a
rounded part facing downwards. Emergency queens develop in
these cells. With these adaptations queens can be raised from
worker larvae that are younger than three days old. A failing queen
can be replaced by the colony. Mostly at the end of the honeyflow
the bees will build one or a few supersedure cells.
Should the young queen be lost during the mating flight (e.g. be eaten
by a bird) there will be no brood in the colony and no new queens can
be raised. The colony is irrevocably without a queen (there is no natural solution) and the colony will die. In extended periods without a
queen (when there are no emergency queen cells) the workers start to
lay eggs. These eggs are not fertilised and can therefore only produce
drones. The presence of laying workers can be seen from the large
number of eggs per cell (5-10). These eggs are not only laid at the bottom but also on the walls of the cells. Workers prefer to lay eggs in the
wider drone cells. The bulging cell caps will tell you that drones are
developing in worker cells. Usually such colonies are more aggressive.
Both in A.cerana and in A.mellifera capensis the ovarioles of some
workers are activated immediately after the loss of the queen. These
workers start to lay eggs and no queen cells may be built.
Solutions: When there is no queen, remove all emergency queen cells
except one (of good form and size); or remove all emergency queen
cells and introduce a young queen from another colony with the help
of a queen cage; or combine the colony with another which does have
22
a laying queen. In cases of irrevocable loss of the queen provide a

frame with eggs or young larvae (for building emergency queen cells)
from another colony with a queen. If there are laying workers shake
all bees off the combs some meters in front of the hive. The bees will
return to the hive and the laying workers that are unable to fly will
remain behind. Then you should either give the colony brood (for the
building of emergency queen cells), introduce a queen, or combine the
colony with a colony with a queen.
23
5.1
Some basic characteristics of bees
Bees build their combs from the top downwards. They usually do not
attach combs to the bottom of the hive and to sloping walls.
There is a fixed distance between the combs (the bee space). Any
space greater than the bee space will be filled up with comb (figure 4).
Figure 4: Cross section of top bars and combs.
It is very important in movable comb beekeeping to know that this bee

space as well as the comb spacing (i.e. the distance between the centres of adjacent combs) is always fixed for colonies of the same bee
race, but slightly varying between the races.
In general it can be said that the smaller the bee race (species) the
smaller the bee space, comb spacing, cell size and nest volume will
be.
Bees need sufficient pollen and nectar sources: flowering plants.
You can easily detect whether plants are such sources by spotting forage bees on them. Bees also need water nearby which they can bring
into the hive.
In case these elementary requirements are not available the beekeeper
should supply them, otherwise the colony will weaken and die or abscond.
Bees are base-bound. They always fly back to the place of their own
hive, even if the hive has been moved.
24
Bees have a nest odour particular to their colony and are not allowed
to enter another colony (unless they are carrying nectar).
N.B.: Remember these basic characteristics in all your work with
bees.
5.2
Handling bees
The beekeeper should take into account the fact that bees react
strongly to certain smells such as perspiration, alcohol, soap and perfume. In order not to be stung, avoid carrying these strong smells
when you inspect the bee colonies and do not keep any animals near
the bees.
Bees can become entangled in hair and in woollen clothing. It is therefore advisable to cover the head and to wear clothes made of smooth
fabric. When bees are aggressive they will always go for dark colours
first. Wear clothing of the lightest possible colour. This is also better
when working in hot climates.
Make sure that you always have some form of smoke at hand when
you want to open the hives. Especially if you work with the more defensive kinds of bees, e.g. in Africa and South America, always first
blow some smoke into the flight entrance. Then lift the cover, blow
some smoke into the hive and close the hive again for a short while
(one minute). Always make sure that you have enough fuel for the
smoker at hand.
Some types of bees are easily disturbed when vibrating objects, especially machines, come close to them. Avoid this by choosing the site
of the apiary carefully. Weeding or mowing grass with a sickle of
scythe can excite the bees terribly (see also: Setting up the apiary).
Carry out all activities with slow movements. Bees react strongly to
rapid movements. Even if you have been stung, first calmly put the
frame back into the hive before paying attention to the sting. You
should especially avoid banging against the hive.
If you have been stung you must first kill the bee which has stung you
and then scrape the sting out of your skin with a finger nail or a sharp
object. When you first start keeping bees the stings will cause swelling. After several stings the reaction will become less. Should you re-
25
act violently to a bee sting (perspiration, dizziness) it is advisable to

stop keeping bees. Fortunately this reaction seldom occurs (1 out of
5000 people), but if it does occur then go to a doctor immediately.
5.3
Beehives
Beehives are hollow containers that can be closed and are purpose
made to house bees. Under natural conditions bee colonies will choose
their own nesting site, which can be any cavity, any hollow tree, a
rock cavity or a discarded container.
It will be very helpful to any beekeeper to observe the characteristics
of such natural nesting sites, because the bees have shown their preference for them.
The hive used by a beekeeper must be appropriate to his way of beekeeping. There is a large variety of hives, from relatively simple ones
to very complicated ones, the latter being quite expensive.
In general the following three types are most commonly used:
? fixed comb hives.
? removable comb hives with top bars.
? removable comb hives with frames.
5.4
Fixed comb hives
These can be made from a hollow log (figure 5), a wooden box, an
earthen pot or a metal container. The bees fill all the available space
with combs from the top downwards. You cannot remove the combs
separately as they are attached to the top and sides of the hive. The
honey can be removed only removing one wall of the hive and breaking or cutting out the honey combs.
Advantages of fixed comb hives:
? they are cheap and easy to make.
? they are seldom troubled by ants and raccoons etc. as the hives are
usually hung up in a tree, or covered with a layer of mud.
? the colony is not constantly disturbed by a beekeeper.
26
Figure 5: A log hive.
Disadvantages:
? the colony cannot be inspected.
? when cutting out the combs, the combs with brood cannot be put
back, and are thus lost.
? it is difficult to prevent swarming or to replace a queen.
Figure 6: Beehive, box model (Kenya). A: flight entrance, = 9

mm.
27
Better versions of fixed comb hives have one or more removable

boards, allowing inspection from one or more sides of the hive (figure
6). This also allows you to break out only those combs which contain
honey and to observe the colony's development.
The combs with brood are left in the hive; the colony builds new
combs and the development of the colony can continue. The same
principle is used in the Kenya box hive (figure 6).
Paraffin tins can also be used as hives. One side is sawn off (figure
7a). These tins must be protected from excessive heating or cooling by
wrapping a layer of straw or similar material around them (figure 7b).
Figure 7: a: Beehive made from a paraffin tin.

b: Insulated against heat.
5.5
Beehives with movable combs (top bar

hives)
These types of hives are used in some regions of tropical Africa for
A.mellifera (Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Ghana) and in parts of Asia
for A.cerana (Nepal, Vietnam).
Kenya top bar hive (figure 8).
A long trough-shaped box with sloping side walls (forming an angle
of 115 with the floor) is covered with bars of a fixed width. You can
also use round sticks instead of bars, as long as the spacing between
the sticks is correct. The advantage of using adjoining bars is that
28
when you inspect part of the combs, the rest of the colony remains
covered and is therefore not disturbed. The bees will build a comb on
each of the bars, especially if somebody helps them by melting a piece
of comb a few centimetres long to the underside of the bar, or dipping
the underside of the bar in molten wax. The remarkable feature of this
kind of hive is that the bees do not attach the combs to the sloping side
walls, a bee space is left free. The centre to centre distance of top bars
should be the same as the comb spacing, which is specific for every
bee race. In appendix 1 you can find comb spacings for some bee
races of A.mellifera and A.cerana.
Figure 8: Top bar hive (Kenya). A: top bar.
If you use round sticks these should be placed at similar distances

(measuring from the centre of the sticks). If you want to find the distance between combs for the local bees, you can do this by measuring
the combs of a colony which has built a natural fixed comb nest.
The hive consists of a bottom board, two side walls and a front and
back wall (figure 9). The bottom board can be a little wider than indicated in the drawing. The protruding section can then be used as a
29
flight board (landing strip) for the bees flying in. Two slits measuring
1 15 cm are made in the front wall to serve as flight entrances.
Figure 9: Construction drawing of a Kenyan top bar hive.

A: lid; B: back; C: bottom; D: side; E: front.
The cover can be made from any material which gives adequate protection against light, sun and rain. The underside of the bars should be
planed down to a V shape. It is extremely important that the bars have
the right width, or, where sticks are used, that these are placed at ex-
30
actly the right distance from each other by means of nails or spacing
bars. The bars or sticks should be 48 cm long.
The hive is suspended between two trees or poles with strong wire.
This will keep the hive out of the reach of ants, termites and other
enemies. Finally the hive should be painted white to protect it against
too much heat. You could first treat the wood on the outside of the
hive with a preservative (without insecticide!).
The Tanzanian top bar hive
This type is used in other parts of Africa (for instance in Botswana).
Unlike the Kenyan type, it has upright side walls, so it is easier to construct. This type can only be used when the bees do not attach the
combs to the side walls.
Instead of V shaped top bars you can use rectangular ones, with a
hardboard strip hanging down the centre of each top bar. Such a strip
should protrude about 1 cm and be soaked in melted wax to make a
starter for the bees to build the comb.
Top bar hives can be made from 2 cm thick wood. A cheaper construction is possible using a cardboard box of the right size box-hive to
which cow dung, clay or a mixture is plastered. The cardboard boxhive can be reinforced with wooden sticks. It is also possible to make
a box (hive) from only straight sticks tied securely together with wire,
and plastered with the cow dung/clay mixture.
The advantages of top bar hives over fixed comb hives are:
? each comb can be removed from the hive. This enables you to inspect the development of the colony.
? the combs containing honey can be removed without damaging the
brood nest; the colony can develop undisturbed.
? the quality of the honey is better because no brood is harvested.
? you can use one or two queen excluders to separate the brood
combs and the honey combs at one side or both. A queen excluder is
a board with openings of a certain width, which allows the worker
bees to pass, but not the queen. This enables you to obtain honey-
31
comb with a little pollen in it, but absolutely no brood (because the
queen cannot lay eggs in them).
The advantages of these top-bar hives over hives with frames for the
combs are:
? they can be made with other locally available and inexpensive materials.
? the only two dimensions that matter are:
1 the standard length of the top bar in order to change the top bars,
within the hive and between different hives.
2 the width of the top bar, which must be the same as the bees natural comb spacing so that they can build combs right below each
top bar (see Appendix 1).
? if the combs are used only once, the raw wax hardly needs to be
purified. In this case the wax production is high.
? you do not need a centrifugal honey extractor to extract the honey;
the honey can be pressed out of the combs.
5.6
Hives with frames
There are various kinds, e.g. WBC, Langstroth, Dadant, Simplex hive
etc. It is not the intention to look at all these kinds in detail. The construction of this kind of hive can be explained by using the Langstroth
hive and the East African Long hive as examples. The bees build their
combs on wax sheet comb starters (foundation sheets) fixed in the
wooden frames. A foundation sheet is a 2-3 mm thick layer of beeswax, a little smaller than the inner measures of the frame, on which a
pattern of hexagonals (the shape of the bottom of a worker cell) has
been imprinted with a press. A foundation sheet is fixed vertically in
the middle of the frame. The bees build the cell walls horizontally on
both sides of the foundation sheet.
Advantages of a hive with frames:
? combs with brood can be easily separated from combs with honey.
32
? the combs are firmly anchored in the frames, so the combs can be
handled quickly and without breaking. The hives can be transported
without the combs breaking off.
? with the frame system the honey can be extracted rapidly with a
centrifugal honey extractor, after which the combs can be re-used.
? this is a great advantage if you are mainly interested in the production of honey and not in the production of beeswax. The bees need
to produce less wax and can therefore use all their energy for the
care of the brood and the collection of food.
Two examples of beehives with frames:
1 The Langstroth hive (North and South America, Africa, Australia).
2 The East African Longhive (Uganda).
The Langstroth hive
The most important parts are (figure 10):
? a brood chamber with a fixed bottom board and flight board; or a
loose bottom board on top of which is placed a bottomless brood
chamber. In the bottom board you can leave a ventilation hole of
15 30 cm, which is covered with fine wire mesh. The brood
chamber holds 10 frames, which are kept separated at the right distance by means of side bars, nails or staples.
? a queen excluder (not absolutely necessary), placed horizontally on
top of the brood chamber.
? one or more honey supers with 9 or 10 frames. These are placed on
top of the brood chamber or on the queen excluder.
? a top ventilation screen used for ventilation during transport with 23 mm mesh wire screen.
? an inner cover 0.5 to 1 cm thick.
? an outer cover made of wood, covered with zinc or aluminium (e.g.
old offset plates). This should fit easily over the honey super or
brood chamber. For better ventilation you can place 4 little blocks
of wood 1 cm high on the inside corners of the outer cover, so that
air can pass underneath.
33
Figure 10: The Langstroth hive.
NOTE : You can also use brood chambers to collect honey instead of
using the shallower honey supers. The advantage of this is that you
work with only one size of box and frame. The disadvantages of such
large honey supers are:
1 It takes longer for the honey combs to be sealed. If there are many
short honeyflow periods with intervening periods of dearth, a super
with large combs may not be well sealed, whereas a smaller one
would be.
2 a super the size of a brood chamber with 10 combs of sealed honey
is very heavy to carry.
See figure 11 for the sizes of the brood chamber, honey super and bottom board. Base the sizes of the brood chamber and honey supers on
the size of the frames, so build the chamber and supers to hold 10
frames. Ensure that a space of about 3 mm is left below the frame and
a space of about 6 mm above the frame Keep in mind the basic characteristics of bees for which you are building the hive.
For the honey super a similar construction is made. Only the depth of
the honey super is not 24.1 cm but only 14.6 cm.
34
Figure 11: Construction of a Langstroth hive.

Frame
In the brood chamber and honey super hang the frames in which the
combs are to be built. A frame consists of: a top bar, 2 side bars and a
bottom bar (figure 14). The top bar must extend some distance on both
sides of the frame, to form two small handles. The frame hangs by
these handles in the indentations made in the front and back walls of
the brood chamber and honey super.
There are two ways of keeping the frames at the correct parallel distance from each other i.e. from bar centre to bar centre (figure 13):
A. By using staples. In both handles, but at opposite sides of the handles, a staple, screw or U-nail is inserted in such a way that it protrudes from each side of the frame (see Appendix 1).
B. By means of extra wide side bars. These extend on either side of
the frame. To ensure that the bees do not glue the side bars to each
other too tightly, one side of the bar is bevelled so that the area of
contact is as small as possible.
35
Figure 12: Cross section of a brood chamber of the Langstroth

hive.
Figure 13: Two ways of keeping the right distance between the
frames.
On the underside of the top bar a groove of 2 mm wide and 4 mm

deep can be made, into which the foundation sheet is fixed. As the
handles of the frames all rest on the sharp edge, the bees can only glue
them on this small surface. Bees have the habit of filling up all gaps
smaller than 5 mm with propolis. The bottom bar of the frame must
therefore be suspended so that there is a gap the size of a bee (1 cm)
between it an the bottom board. The bees use the space to walk under
and past the frames.
36
Figure 14: Sizes of the brood chamber of the Langstroth hive.

The East African Long Hive
Unlike the Langstroth hive, this kind of hive has the honey area next
to the brood chamber, and not on top of it (figure 15).
As in the Langstroth hive the frames are hung at right angles to the
front of the hive. Both the brood and the honey area will hold 12
frames. The side bars of these frames are 32 mm wide. This hive also
consists of a bottom board, either fixed to the hive or not, a front with
a flight entrance of 1 30 cm in the middle, a queen excluder, 4
crown boards which cover the frames, and finally an outer cover. The
hive is placed on a wooden stand.
37
It is a good idea to keep a small colony of 4 to 6 combs in addition to

the large colony. For this purpose smaller hives, holding 4 to 6 frames,
are built on the same principles. The frames should always be of uniform size.
Figure 15: The East African Long Hive.
5.7
Further requirements
Queen excluder
A beekeeper who wants to collect honey, will want his bees to produce
honey in separate combs as much as possible, so it makes collecting
the honey easier. However, a colony tends to collect honey in combs
where also brood is present. A queen excluder serves to keep the
queen out of certain parts of the hive. There are two kinds, the perforated grid (a perforated zinc or plastic sheet) and the bar or wire grid
(figure 16).
The queen excluder is placed between the honey area and the brood
area. The width of the openings must be adjusted to the size of the
38
bees. The workers, but not the queen, should be able to pass through
the excluder. In this way the queen can be locked up in the brood
chamber. The workers should be able to pass through the grid without
any hindrance so that they can store the collected food in the honey
area (that is why the oblong openings should run parallel to the
combs). The total surface through which the bees can pass should be
as large as possible.
Figure 16: Queen excluders.

Foundation sheet
This consists of a sheet of beeswax (2-3 mm thick) into which a cell
pattern has been pressed. The bees build up the cell walls on this pattern. The use of foundation sheets promotes the construction of a regular comb, provided they are made of pure beeswax and the right cell
size is pressed. Cell sizes of various bee races are listed in Appendix
1.
Furthermore, the bees need to use less energy to produce wax, which
is very advantageous for honey production.
Foundation sheets can be ordered from beekeeping cooperatives or
from the Department of Apiculture of the Ministry of Agriculture or
Forestry. Foundation sheets are commonly used in frame and hive
beekeeping, but are not strictly necessary. If they are not available
pieces of so-called burr comb (i.e. newly built small pieces of comb,
usually in the shape of a tongue) can be used. The beekeeper can attach burr combs to the centre of the frame bar or top bar by melting its
top.
If foundation sheets are available, but expensive, then it is more economic to use small strips of foundation sheets only. This type of foundation sheet can also be used in top bar hive beekeeping.
39
Smoker
Smoke is a means of driving the bees away. The bees go to the honey
and fill themselves with honey, which makes them less defensive.
If you only need to inspect a few colonies or if you work with docile
bees, you can light a cigar, cigarette or pipe. If you need to inspect a
lot of colonies, or if you work with African or Africanized bees, it is
advisable always to use a smoker. Cow dung, maize cobs, coconut
fibres, rags or card-board can be used as smoker fuel. An open smoker
can be made for instance, from a fruit tin. A handle has to be attached
to the rim of the open topside, because the tin becomes hot. Make
holes in the bottom for air inlet. Attach three or four supports to the
bottom.
Figure 17: A smoker with bellows.
40
To make a smoker with bellows you need (figure 17):

? two wooden boards 12 20 cm.
? a spring from a chair, bed or similar spring.
? a piece of imitation leather or the inner tube of a motor/car tyre.
? a piece of metal tubing with a diameter of 19 mm.
? a piece of zinc.
? nails.
Construction
Cut out a piece of imitation leather of the shape and size shown in
figure 17. Fix the metal spring to board 1 with a few nails. In the other
board drill a 13 mm hole. First attach the imitation leather to the sides
of board 2 and then attach it to the board with the spring. To ensure
that the imitation leather remains firmly attached to the sides of the
boards it is advisable to knock strips of zinc over the edges.
The fuel container can be made from a piece of zinc sheeting, but you
can also use a length of drainpipe. The side and bottom seams should
be rivetted. Make a 19 mm hole 1 cm from the bottom of the fuel container. Place a grid 3 cm from the bottom of the container, so that the
fuel does not rest on the bottom. The lid is made of 2 pieces of zinc.
The bellows are attached to the fuel container with two brackets. Take
care that the hole in the fuel container and the hole in the bellows are
accurately lined up. To ensure that the air from the bellows enters the
fuel container, you can fix a 2 or 3 cm length of tubing to the hole in
the fuel container. This tube should not touch the hole in the bellows,
however, as it should not block the flow of air into the bellows when
they expand after being pressed together.
Cover sheet
To prevent too many bees from leaving the hive when you are inspecting the combs, and to partly protect the colony from robber bees, you
should place a wet cotton cloth over the opened hive. Some beekeepers find it easier to use two cloths, so that the frames on either side of
the frame which is being removed remain covered.
41
Bee hat (figure 18)

This serves to protect the head and neck
from bee stings. The hat is made of very thin
cotton into which is sewn a window (25
25 cm) of fine black mesh or black fly
screening. To ensure good ventilation use as
much gauze in the hat as possible. Instead of
a pointed hat you can also make a veil which
fits onto a broad-brimmed hat. If you work
with very defensive bees a bee hat which is Figure 18: Bee
not based on a broad-brimmed hat is not hat/veil.
good enough, as the bees can still sting
through the thin cotton into the head and neck. The veil of the bee hat
falls onto the shoulders and is tucked into the shirt or overalls. You
should use black mesh or gauze for the window, as it is very difficult
to see well through light-coloured gauze.
Overalls
It is best to wear white overalls with a zip fastener. If you are working
with defensive bees the sleeves and the trouser legs must be tied
around the wrists and ankles with elastic, rope or sticking tape. Wear
high shoes or boots.
Gloves
An extension piece 20 cm long with elastic in the ends is sewn onto
the ends of the gloves. The gloves should be regularly cleaned with a
brush and water as the smell of the stings in the gloves will stimulate
aggressive behaviour in the bees.
Note: The use of a bee hat, overalls, high shoes and gloves are essential when working with some African and Africanized bees.
Bee brush
To sweep the bees from the combs you can use a small, oblong brush,
a strong feather or the whole wing of a bird.
42
Hive tool
This is used to loosen the cover, the honey super(s) and the top bars
which have been glued together by the bees. A piece of hard metal,
crowbar like, bent at one end and sharp at the other end will do. You
can also use a screw driver.
5.8
Preparing the hive
Putting the hive in order

It is important to make the hives with great care, so that there is (other
than the flight entrance) no hole through which robber bees can enter.
Robbers create unrest and lower the production of honey by the colony. All the hives and parts of the hives must have exactly the same
measurements so that frames can be exchanged between hives. The
outside of the hive should be protected with varnish or paint (preferably white). To reduce the chance that bees mistake their hives when
they fly home, especially if the hives are neatly placed in a row, you
can paint different geometrical figures 10 to 20 cm high above the
flight entrance of the hives or paint the flight board in different colours. If the hive is to be inhabited by a small colony, you should temporarily reduce the size of the flight entrance by putting a stick in
front of part of it.
Attaching the foundation sheets
If you use a centrifugal honey extractor you should reinforce the
combs with thin, galvanised wire to make sure that they do not break
during spinning. Fairly strong copper wire, such as can be taken from
broken transformers, can also be used for this; with the added advantage that copper does not rust.
The groove in the underside of the top bar of the frames is used to attach the foundation sheets firmly to the frames. The grooves may be
filled up with liquid wax after inserting the foundation sheets, to prevent the wax moth laying eggs in them. Make holes through the side
bars with an awl. These holes are reinforced with metal eyelets to prevent that the metal wire cuts into the wood. The wire is strung through
43
the holes horizontally, tightened, and secured with two small nails
(figure 19).
Figure 19: Wiring a Langstroth brood chamber frame. A: nails; B:

wire.
When the foundation sheet has been attached to the top bar of the
frame, the wire is melted into the wax with a spur embedder (figure
20). Heat the spur embedder, which has a little groove in it, in boiling
water or above a spirits flame and use it to press the wire into the
foundation sheet. You can also heat the wire by running a weak electric current (from a battery or bell transformer) through it. A third
method is to use a soldering iron.
Figure 20: Spur embedder.
Instead of using the soldering bit, use a thick nail which has been filed
flat at the end and has had a groove deep enough to cover half of the
wire filed into it.
It is important to ensure that the foundation sheet is at least 0.5 cm
smaller than the frame at the sides and bottom. This allows the foun44
dation sheet to expand without buckling. If you do not use foundation

sheet, you can use a 2 to 3 cm strip of comb which you melt to the top
bar of the frame, so that the bees can build on this pattern. If you cannot get hold of a foundation sheet, you can use strips of firm paper, 3
cm wide and a little shorter than the frames. Dip these in liquid wax
and then attach them to the top bars of the frames, to serve as a starter
for comb building. The bees will then at least build their combs in the
right place.
Bees can build on a foundation sheet or a strip of comb both in the
brood nest and in the honey super. The bees will only build comb during good honeyflow periods and definitely not when they are preparing to swarm.
5.9
Setting up the apiary
Good honey production begins with the right choice of site for the
apiary, and the correct use of this site. One should pay attention to the
following points.
The choice of site.
? The site must be in an area where there are several sources of nectar
within a radius of 1 km. Although bees cover an area with a radius
of 3 km, it is preferable to place bees in the middle of the forage.
The shorter the distance the bees have to fly, the less energy is lost
and the higher the honey production.
? The site must not be waterlogged in the rainy periods.
? There should be enough suitable drinking water for the bees in the
immediate surroundings. If this is not the case, you will have to set
up a drinking place for the bees; for example, a container (in the
shade) from which water drips slowly. If you provide an open container with water, always leave some pieces of wood floating on top
for the bees to land on. Otherwise they will drown.
? When working with defensive African or Africanized bees the apiary should not be in the vicinity of inhabited areas or areas where
there are regular agricultural or livestock activities. As a rule the
following distances are considered safe:
45
? 100 m in forested area.

? 200 m in shrubbery.
? 300 m in open land.
? The apiary should not be too far from the home of the beekeeper so
that regular inspection of the hives is possible without this costing
too much time and money.
? There should be a good path leading to the apiary so that you do not
have to carry the hives and the basins or containers of honey too far.
Protecting the hives
Sun
The hives must always be protected from the hot sun. This is better for
the bees and for the hives. There are three ways of doing this:
1 Place the hives in or under a tree which offers sufficient shade.
2 Place an additional roof made of corrugated iron (straw or leaves)
above each one of the hives (if they are widely spaced).
3 Put the hives close together and build one extra roof (zinc sheets,
straw, reeds, leaves) to cover all of them.
Wind
Place the hives with their flight entrance out of the prevailing wind
direction. If the hives are in an open place and there is a continuous
strong wind from one direction, it is a good idea to plant a hedge or
construct a windscreen (grass, straw, leaves).
Rain
Place the hives at a slight angle so that the flight entrance is 1 cm
lower than the rear of the bottom board and the rainwater cannot run
into the hive. The hive cover must be waterproof.
Cattle/game
Make sure that cattle or large game cannot walk around the hives.
Fence the bee site if necessary.
46
Raccoons
If raccoons cause too much trouble, it is advisable to suspend the
hives from the branches of a tree or a from a home-made pole construction with wire. The hives should hang about 1 m above the
ground.
Toads
In the humid tropics toads are notorious bee-eaters. In this case always
place the hives at least 50 cm above the ground.
Ants, termites
In many areas ants are a great threat to bees, and care must be taken to
protect the bees from them. One solution is to suspend the hives with
wires. A second solution is to use hive stands which are protected
from ants and termites by grease (figure 21). Fix a collar of zinc or
aluminium to each leg of the stand and grease the underside of these
collars once a year with old crankcase oil.
Figure 21: Using greased caps (A) to protect bee stands from ants.
Make sure that no weeds, which could form a bridge for the ants,
grow around the bee stands. As weeding can upset the bees, it is better
to take the necessary precautions when preparing the apiary. You can
also place old rubber mats or linoleum under the hive stands.
47
If one has a spacious roof over the apiary this is usually enough to
prevent strong weed growth.
Thieves
Unfortunately man often is the main enemy of a beekeeper and in
some areas the robbing of bee hives is a common hazard. The best
way to prevent theft is to keep your apiary within a short distance of a
guarded dwelling. If not, hives can be wrapped with a chain and padlock, so it cannot be opened. Make sure that people in the neighbourhood of the apiary have no reason to disturb your bees. Inform them
well and act properly in case there are complaints.
Bushfire
In savanna regions and other regions with a long dry spell, the danger
of seasonal bushfire might cause problems in setting up a proper apiary. In fact this is one main reason for beekeepers to put their hives
high up in trees. If your apiary is on a bee stand then make sure that
sudden bushfire cannot affect your colonies. Keep a wide area around
the apiary clean and clear away lower weeds and shrubs from time to
time.
48
The first season
6.1
Hiving a swarm
Capturing a swarm
A newly settled swarm clustering on a branch of a tree is very docile.
When capturing a swarm, however, it is advisable to protect yourself
with suitable clothing. The bees can be quite aggressive if they have
already been under way for several days. If you discover a swarm in
an easily accessible place, you can first sprinkle cool water over the
bees with a brush or a spray bottle to prevent them from moving away.
A small hive without frames, a basket or a box is held under the
swarm. Sometimes a bee veil can be used for this purpose. A firm
blow on the branch on which the swarm is hanging will make the
bees drop into the hive. Then cover the hive with a thin cloth and put
it in the shade. If a firm blow does not have any effect you can also
drive the bees into the hive with a bee brush, or smoke. As soon as the
queen is in the hive the rest of the bees will follow on their own. In the
evening you must take some of the frames out of a prepared hive, and
shake the bees from the small hive into the big hive. The frames are
carefully put back into place and the hive is closed. The flight entrance
of the hive can remain open; bees that have remained in the small
hive can be tapped onto the flight board. The following day you must
feed the bees. You will read more about this further on.
Baiting a swarm
Take a small hive that has already been inhabited by bees. In the case
of a movable bee hive fill this with frames or top bars. Two of the
frames should contain combs, the others should have foundation
sheets or strips of old comb. Place the hive in a tree or on a roof in
such a way that there is some protection from the wind. As soon as the
swarm has taken occupation of the hive, the bees will begin to orient
themselves on the position of the hive. It is therefore advisable to
place the hive in its desired place the very day that the swarm has
taken occupation of it. If the hive has already been occupied for some
The first season
49
days, the bees will already have oriented themselves to the hive. The
hive can then only be moved over a long distance and some weeks
later it can be moved back to the desired place.
If you have some old bee hives (an empty chamber with a cover and a
bottom board will do) keep one of these at hand around the home to
bait a swarm. Baiting a swarm is only useful in the swarming season,
which is often in spring or at the beginning of the dry season.
For beginners it is useful to know that in some countries the Ministry
of Agriculture and/or Forestry makes small colonies of bees available.
Collecting wild nests
Sometimes you may find old swarms in the trees of a forest or elsewhere; these are swarms which have already established themselves
and have already build some combs on which you will find brood and
honey. Although the chances of such a colony staying in your hive
after capture are smaller, you can nevertheless try to move the whole
colony into a hive. First you may have to open the tree in order to
reach the combs. Use a lot of smoke to drive the bees away from the
comb. Use a sharp knife to cut off the comb and trim this to fit the
frame, which should have wires but no foundation sheets. Where the
wires are to run, carefully cut through a row of cells so that the wire
can slot into the comb. As an extra precaution also attach a string
around the comb and frame in such a way that it can later be removed
easily. In this way the combs are fixed to the frames one by one and
then hung in the hive. Finally the bees are also swept or driven into
the hive. Because these bees have already oriented themselves, the
hive must immediately be placed about 5 or 6 km from the area where
they were found.
Providing a bigger hive
When all the combs in the small hive are filled with brood, it is time to
provide more room. When a fixed comb hive is getting too small for a
colony it is sometimes possible to make an extension to the hive, thus
giving the bees more space. If you are using removable combs move
the small hive 50 cm to the side and put the large hive in its place.
Blow some smoke over the frames of the small hive. Wait a little and
50
then loosen the frames with the hive tool. Hold the first frame next to
the side wall carefully by the handles and gently place it into the large
hive. Transfer the other frames in their correct order, so that the brood
nest will retain the same shape (look carefully for the queen and any
eggs). Place additional frames on both sides of the transferred frames
filling the hive completely with frames. Bring a little smoke over the
frames and replace the cover. Make sure that the flight entrance is
open (you should reduce it if necessary). You have your first colony in
the desired place.
Now let us see what will have to be done during the first season.
6.2
Administration
You should keep a good record of the condition of the colony, especially if you have several colonies. You should note on a card, after
each inspection, the date, the presence of brood combs, the food supply, whether there are drone or swarm cells, and also any action you
have taken. Also note the honey yield, or the absence of yield, and any
other particulars, such as aggressiveness etc. You can attach the hive
card to the underside of the cover of the hive.
Instead of using the card system you can also write all the details in an
exercise book (or better still, a loose-leaf file), which you take home.
If you work with gloves on, it is difficult to write on hive cards and it
is then simpler to scribble a few notes on a piece of paper and to write
these up in detail when at home. For administrative purposes it is useful to number the hives. All the data collected will be very useful at a
later date when the number of colonies in the apiary has grown considerably and you want to start selecting the best ones.
6.3
Inspection
Once a week take a quick look into the hive. The bees should not
really be disturbed that often, but as a beginner you still have a lot to
learn about the life of the bees and this will have to be done at their
expense. Inspect the colonies during the day, when the weather is
sunny, but preferably not when there is a thunder storm on the way.
The first season
51
Carefully open the hive and blow a little smoke under the cover, or
take away the cover and place a wet cloth over the frames. Wait a
while, and then place the cover cloth in such a way that the handles of
the frames are free. Use the hive tool to loosen the frames. Use a little
smoke from time to time. Lean the first frame on one handle against
the hive and then take the other frames out one by one and inspect
them. Make sure that the moist cover cloths cover the rest of the
frames as much as possible.
Note the following points:
Are there eggs, larvae, capped worker brood or drone brood? Is the
queen present? Is there enough food? Are there any wax moth larvae?
Are the bees and brood healthy?
The findings are noted on the hive card. You must always hold the
frames above the hive so that the queen does not fall outside the hive.
In order to prevent diseases spreading, especially regarding American
Foul Brood: it is recommended to sterilize equipment prior to inspecting the hives of other apiaries. Gloves should be washed between use
in one apiary and definitely before use in another. Scorching the hive
tools in a lighted smoker will also prevent the transfer of spores between the hives.
6.4
Feeding
A colony is fed to stimulate development during dearth periods. Regular feeding with small quantities of sugar solution (or diluted honey)
stimulates the development of brood. The food that is stored in the
combs is important for the survival of the bees but does not stimulate
them to greater activity. A colony from which you have already removed honey cannot bridge a dearth period without being fed with
sugar solution. You make a sugar solution by heating equal parts of
sugar (good quality crystal sugar) and water until the sugar is dissolved ( do not boil). Never use brown sugar as it causes diarrhoea
among the bees.
52
Feeding is done with a feeder (figure 22). You can use a large jam jar
or a small plastic bucket for this. Make a large number of 1 mm holes
in the lid. Use a nail to knock holes in the metal lid of a jam jar. Make
an opening a little smaller than the feeder in the inner cover of the
hive. Place the feeder with its perforated lid upside down over the
opening in the inner cover. On top of this place an empty brood chamber or honey super and put the outer cover of the hive on top of this.
You can also remove one or two unused frames from the hive and put
the feeder in their place. The feeder can also be placed on top of a
small wooden tray (figure 23) which you place in the flight entrance.
Make sure, however, that the bees cannot reach the sugar solution
from the outside. The advantage of this method of feeding is that the
hive does not have to be opened at all.
Figure 22: Positioning the feeder.
Figure 23: Feeder which is inserted in the flight entrance.
The first season
53
? Make sure that there are no openings through which bees, wasps,
ants etc. can enter to steal the sugar. You can prevent robbing by
making the flight entrance smaller.
? Never prepare more sugar solution than the bees can take up in a
few days. A fermented sugar solution is poisonous for the bees.
? Stop feeding as soon as the bees no longer immediately take up the
sugar, that is, if it remains untouched for a day. When you remove
the feeder you must close the opening in the inner cover.
? If you can sell the honey for a good price, be generous with feeding
in times of poor honeyflow. You will more than recover the cost of
the sugar by the resulting increase of the colony and the higher
honey yields.
? To avoid robbing, do not offer food outside the colony!
? In dearth periods feeding with sugar will usually do and will keep
your colony strong. However, you may at times find no pollen
stored in the hive. Lack of pollen means a serious shortage of food
for the brood. This means that less bees will develop. In this case
you can give the bees a pollen substitute, which is soybean flour.
The substitute can be mixed with a little sugar to make a protein
rich cake that can be fed by putting it on top of the bars. Do not
make too much cake as it is easily perishable.
6.5
Management during the growth of the

colony
The brood nest is now gradually spreading over the various combs.
Combs are being built on foundation sheets and strips. The cells of the
frames are filled from the centre outwards with brood, pollen and
honey. Building costs much energy and if you notice that not much
nectar is being collected (bad weather, poor honeyflow) you must feed
small quantities of sugar solution. When the bees have filled all the
frames with food and brood, it is time to provide extra room (by adding a honey super, for example). The way to provide extra room depends on the kind of beehive you use. In long hives or top bar hives
where the honey area and brood chamber are next to each other, the
honey area will have been separated from the brood chamber by a par-
54
tition made of hardboard or similar material. The flight entrance of the

honey area will have been closed.
It is very important to keep on adjusting the size of the hive
(number of chambers) to the size of the colony. The bees should be
able to occupy all the frames. Only then can the total comb surface be protected from intruders (e.g. the wax moth) and kept at
the right temperature.
For tropical bee races such as the African mellifera and Apis cerana in
Asia this rule is vital. All combs should be covered with a dense curtain of bees and no combs should be left unoccupied. Therefore, a
beekeeper in sudden times of dearth must also be able to decrease the
number of combs when the colony gets smaller. If not the wax moth
may seriously attack the nest and soon the whole colony will abscond.
Other reasons for absconding might be:
? attack by ants.
? other bees robbing.
? a too wide or too narrow comb spacing.
? regular and rough disturbance (e.g. by the beekeeper).
To prevent brood from developing in the honey chamber, place a
queen excluder between the brood and the honey parts. This is not absolutely essential.
To encourage the workers to build up the honey super rapidly, place
one or two frames with capped brood (make sure the queen is not on
the frames) in the honey super. Replace the frames you have removed
from the brood nest with the same number of frames with comb or
foundation sheet. Frames can only be exchanged between the honey
area and the brood chamber if they are of the same size.
The rate of development depends greatly on the honeyflow and the
weather. If there are many bee-forage plants in the area, and if the
weather is favourable, a young colony will expand very rapidly. If a
colony develops poorly, check whether there is enough food in the
colony and drinking water in the surroundings, and also check for bee
diseases.
The first season
55
The honeyflow
We speak of honeyflow when many plants which provide nectar,
flower at the same time. The source of honeyflow can be one kind of
plant (e.g. pure Eucalyptus honey) or many different kinds. There are
several mechanisms in the plant world which trigger flowering. In the
temperate zones this is mainly temperature and length of daylight. In
the tropics, where temperature and daylight length do not vary much
during the year, flowering is often determined by rain and drought. In
the humid tropics most plants begin to flower after a few fairly dry
weeks. There are, of course, exceptions, such as the citrus varieties
which flower after the rains have started. In very dry areas flowering
usually occurs at the start of the rainy season.
The beekeeper must note the plants to which the bees fly. The beginner will find it useful to note, for the first few years, the times when
bee-forage plants flower. In this way you will get a good overview of
the honey year and you can make better preparations for the honeyflow.
The harvesting of honey can start 3 or 4 weeks after the start of a good
honeyflow. You can then remove the sealed combs and extract the
honey. If you use a hive with frames, you can also leave the full
frames till the end of the honeyflow. You will have to provide a new
honey super in good time, however, so that there is always enough
room for the bees to store the honey.
Honey is usually not taken out of the brood chamber. The little honey
that is stored in the brood chamber should be left for the bees to use
during dearth periods.
The rest period
At the end of the honeyflow check how much food is left in the combs
for the bees. If you have not yet removed any honey from the combs,
there will be enough food for the bees in the dearth period. If you have
harvested honey, or if the colony has been too weak to provide the
hive with a good supply of honey, you will have to keep on providing
small quantities of sugar solution. In this period you should also check
56
whether the bees are troubled by ants, termites and especially wax
moths. You can close the flight entrance with course mesh or nails in
such a way that mice and lizards cannot get in but the bees can always
get out. All combs that are not occupied by bees must be removed, as
the bees do not defend these against wax moths. The presence of unoccupied combs allows the wax moth to develop into a plague, which
will eventually cause the colony to abandon the hive.
Storing frames with comb
In the tropics it is difficult to keep empty combs stored in good condition. Frames with comb can best be stored in a well-protected and
well-ventilated space. It is best to cover the pile of empty combs with
mosquito netting, so that there is at least 20 cm spacing between the
netting and the combs. Only store new honey combs that have a light
colour, dark combs will be destroyed by small mites. The frames
should be loosely packed on racks, or strung on a wire. Never store
frames with combs in an empty hive because within a month they will
have been destroyed by wax moths.
The first season
57
The natural development of a bee colony during the season has been
described above. Now we will look at the most important interventions the beekeeper makes in this development. The purpose of these
is to bring the colony to maximum strength at the time of the greatest
honeyflow. The general measures discussed here are only applicable
to hives with loose frames. It is difficult to intervene in fixed comb
hives.
7.1
Thorough inspection
At the end of the rainy season (in the humid tropics) or the dry season
(in the dry tropics) the activity of the colony increases. The new bee
season has started. You start the new season with a thorough inspection of the bee colony.
First check whether the queen is still present and whether she has produced any drone brood in worker cells (bulging cell cappings). A
queen inclined to breed drones (either through age or an insufficient
number of matings) is removed and killed. The colony without a
queen is united with a colony with a queen. If only a handful of bees
from the original colony remains, it is better not to unite them with
another colony. It is very likely that the bees are diseased and if they
are, they should be killed and burned. If the floor of the hive is covered with wax crumbs and sugar crystals, this should be cleaned away
(think of wax moths and ants).
Cleaning a loose bottom board is no problem. In hives with a fixed
bottom board you must put the frames into a clean chamber. Now that
the colony is relatively small, there will be no problem looking for the
queen. One of the queen's wings should also be clipped (why this
should be done will be explained in the section on the prevention of
swarming).
Make sure your hands are clean. Take the queen by the thorax (never
by the abdomen!!) and carefully cut off half of one of the front wings
58
(figure 24). It is best to first practise this on a few drones. To make

sure that you do not clip unfertilised queens (which must still make
their mating flights) this clipping should only be done if there is
capped worker brood!! When you put the queen back on the frame
where you found her, make sure that she is not bothered by the other
bees on account of the foreign smell she has acquired from being handled. If necessary apply a little smoke. If the bees become very troublesome, it is better to put her into a little queen cage, which you close
with a plug of sugar dough (sugar kneaded with honey), and to place
this on or between the frames (figure 25). The workers will eat up the
candy, thus freeing the queen. If you cannot get hold of a queen cage,
simply use an empty match-box in which you have made a few holes.
The bees again will release her from this.
Note down all your actions and observations.
Figure 24: Clipping the queen.

(Source: Imkers Encyclopedie,
B.van Aarst).
7.2
Figure 25: A queen cage.

(Source: Imkers Encyclopedie,
B.van Aarst).
Enlarging a colony
There are various ways to enlarge a colony. It is important to know

that one large colony collects more honey than two smaller colonies (it
can work much more economically).
59
You should therefore try, if it is your intention to harvest as much

honey as possible, to aim for the largest possible colonies and not the
greatest number of colonies.
A bee colony can be enlarged by:
1 Stimulating the increase of brood nest size
This can be done by feeding when the circumstances are not favourable, by exchanging frames (between the brood chamber and
the honey super) and providing additional frames.
2 Uniting colonies
At the start of the season you can unite small colonies quite easily
by sprinkling some sugar water over both colonies in the evening
and then hanging the frames of the two small colonies alternately in
one large brood chamber. The oldest or worst queen is removed. If
it does not matter to you which queen remains, simply unite the
colonies. The next day there will be only one queen alive, usually
the younger.
Superfluous frames with food are stored in such a way that they are
safe from ants and bees (in a closed brood chamber, box, paper, or
plastic bag).
3 The newspaper method
On top of the frames of the first colony place a newspaper in which
you have pricked some holes so that the exchange of smells is possible (the bees of the two colonies to be united must develop a
common smell). On top of this place the hive, without bottom
board, of the second colony. The bees will slowly gnaw away the
newspaper and so become peacefully united. If you see pieces of
newspaper appearing on the flight board it is clear that the bees are
very busy. Later you can remove the rest of the newspaper.
4 Wire mesh
You can use a ventilation screen to allow two colonies to get used to
each other in a controlled manner. This frame consists of a wooden
frame, which has the same outside dimensions as the inner cover.
The frame has a fine wire mesh stretched over the underside. In one
of the four bars make a notch 5 cm wide and 0.7 cm deep. This
opening will serve as the flight entrance (figure 26).
60
If you want to be able to close the opening in the ventilation screen,

hinge a piece of wood the same size as the notch to the bar. In the
open position this little door serves as flight board. For hives where
the honey chamber is next to the brood chamber (and not on top of it)
make a similar frame to separate the two. In this case it is not necessary to make a flight entrance in the frame, as the honey chamber has
its own flight entrance.
Place the ventilation screen on top of the hive of the first colony, and
then put the hive of the colony which is to be united with it on top of
the travelling frame. After a week you can remove the screen and
unite the brood nests. Do this in such a way that you again have a
more or less ball-shaped brood-nest.
Figure 26: Ventilation screen, also used to unite 2 colonies by

stacking hives. (Source: Imkers Encyclopedie, B.van Aarst).
5 Partial uniting
The size of a honey producing colony can also be increased by:
? Adding frames with capped brood from other colonies (after you
have brushed or tapped off the bees). Do not add too many
frames of capped brood; the receiving colony should be able to
occupy all the frames with brood to keep it warm, otherwise the
brood will die.
? Driving foraging bees of a neighbouring hive towards the colony
to be strengthened (figure 27). The hives that have to be united,
must have been standing next to each other for some weeks. Then
move the hive of the colony from which you want the flight bees
to fly off some 5 meters away and move the hive of the colony
61
you want to increase halfway to the position of the first hive. The
flight bees of the first hive will now be able to enter the second
hive, that is, if they are carrying nectar or honey. If not, they are
blocked by the guards of the second colony. Therefore only let
bees fly in during periods of good honeyflow. The colony which
has been deprived of its flight bees will have to be fed for a while
if its store of honey is too small.
Figure 27: Position of the 2 hives before and when flying in.
7.3
Migratory beekeeping
The various bee-forage plants which can provide a good harvest of

honey are usually spread out over the countryside. If these all flower
at the same time you cannot profit from them all, unless you have
spread out your hives over the whole area. If these bee-forage plants
flower consecutively, however, you can obtain more honey by travelling with your bee colonies. It must be stressed, however, that you can
only travel with hives which have wooden frames. Choose a site
which is, or can be, well protected against mischief, theft, cattle, game
and fire. You will also have to make sure that these bee-forage plants
will not be sprayed with chemicals which are toxic to bees.
62
Preparing the colonies for travel

Just before the journey the chambers and the frames should no longer
be loosened. The bees will have glued together the various parts of the
hive and this is an advantage during transport. A queen excluder can
be placed between the brood and honey chamber in advance. You can
also take along an extra brood chamber or honey super. The day before you leave, replace the crown board with the ventilation screen.
Bind one or two strong straps or ropes firmly around the hives so that
the chambers or bottom board cannot move during the journey. These
straps are best made from plaited jute or sisal, but you can also make
them from 10 cm wide strips of the discarded inner tube tyre of a car
or tractor.
Close the flight entrance in the evening or early morning when it is
still dark and the bees are not flying. You can use a little wooden
board for this or (better still) a piece of wire mesh that you nail over of
the entrance. A strip of foam rubber jammed into the flight entrance
will also do very well. If there are many bees hanging on the flight
board you can sprinkle them with water mixed with a few drops or
vinegar, or smoke them, to drive them into the hive. During transport
the hives should be positioned in such a way that the frames run parallel to the length of the vehicle. This is to ensure that the frames do not
bang against each other during abrupt changes in speed. The hives
must be firmly fastened to the vehicle. Obviously you should accelerate and brake slowly, and also drive slowly. Take along a bee hat,
smoker, hammer, pliers and some nails, as well as some water. It is
possible that colonies will become overheated during transport and
you can avoid this by spraying with water. It is best to transport the
bees during the coolest part of the day. You can also hang wet jute
bags over the hives in such a way that the hive is cooled but the air
supply is not cut off. Also take along something (clay, foam rubber)
with which to close up any small holes that you may discover during
the journey.
When you arrive at the site, place the hives under a tree or roof so that
they are protected from sun and rain. Then place the crown board on
top of the ventilation screen. The bees will walk downwards. When
63
the bees have come to rest you can open the flight entrance. Some
time later you can remove the travelling frame and replace it with the
crown board. Provide drinking water if necessary.
7.4
Swarming
Swarm cells are built during the period when the brood nest develops
rapidly. The bees become less active, fewer bees fly out to forage, and
no more comb is built. The colony is preparing to divide itself, and
may do this even several times ... unless you intervene. A good beekeeper follows the development of the colony and tries to prevent
swarming in time, although this will certainly not always succeed.
Note: Note that you do not necessarily have to prevent swarming, especially in areas where it is not difficult to capture swarms. By uniting
these at the right time you can obtain strong colonies which ensure a
good honey harvest.
Colonies which have swarmed are lazy and collect little honey, and
such colonies are of little use for the season's honey harvest.
Ways to postpone swarming.
1 Provide enough space in the brood chamber. One of the major
causes of swarming is lack of space. By providing extra space
(hanging empty combs in the brood chamber; providing an extra
brood chamber), the brood nest can again be expanded, so keeping
the queen and the workers active.
2 Remove capped brood. Take away some frames with capped brood,
tap the bees from the frames into the brood chamber, and hang
some frames with empty combs in their place. The removed frames
with brood can be given to weak colonies. In this way you limit the
growth of the colony and at the same time provide more space in
the brood nest.
3 Let the bees fly in (see Partial uniting) This is good way to weaken
a colony inclined to swarm and to enlarge another colony with
flight bees.
64
4 Clip the queen. If you clip one of the queen's wings at the beginning
of the season when the colony is still small she will, at her first attempt to leave with part of the colony, fall on the ground and die. As
soon as the swarm realises that it has no queen, it will return to the
hive. As the old queen is only driven from the hive when the first
queen cells are sealed, there will be one or more new queens in the
colony within a week. The result is that one or more secondary
swarms will fly off. If you have noticed the old queen attempting to
swarm, you can break off all the queen cells but one the next day.
To make sure that you do not leave more than one queen cell, you
must examine all the frames very carefully, by brushing or tapping
off the bees. First you must mark the frame with the queen cell
which you wish to keep, and handle it very carefully. When tapping
the bees off the frame you could damage the young queen in her
cell.
Ways to prevent swarming
To prevent swarming you should be one step ahead of the bees, by
making an artificial swarm yourself. Do this when there are enough
drones, but just before there are swarm cells. With the following
measures you will be able to regulate the number and the size of the
swarms. By doing this the chances that you will lose a part or all of
the colony will be considerably reduced. If you make an artificial
swarm 6 weeks before the major honeyflow you will then have a colony with many flight bees at the time of the honeyflow. At the same
time you will have a small colony (with the old queen) in reserve.
There are several methods for making such artificial swarms, but the
principle is the same: the colony is divided into two, one with the old
queen, the artificial swarm and one without, but with queen cell(s) or
brood combs with eggs and young larvae from which the bees can
produce new queen cells.
When dividing a colony it is important to plan the activity carefully
and to consider the following points: what conditions are needed for
both new colonies and where to position them, which one in the old
place, where all flight bees return and which one in a new place,
where only the young bees will stay.
65
In general there are two possibilities:

1 The old queen stays in the old place and this will be where all the
flight bees will stay.
In this case the beekeeper must take all open brood combs and also
the capped brood combs, except one or two and put them into a new
hive, a few metres away. In this new bee hive the bees will make
queen cells out of some the cells with newly hatched larvae. No
empty combs are needed here, nor foundation sheets, as there is no
queen yet to lay eggs nor flight bees to collect nectar or pollen.
Only one or two frames with honey and a frame with some pollen
are needed in this hive for survival until the new queen lays her
eggs and young bees have developed into flight bees. In the old
colony the queen will continue to lay eggs and empty combs and
foundation sheets are needed. Young bees will emerge from the
capped brood which has remained and these will nurse the larvae.
In the meantime flight bees will continue to bring pollen and nectar.
2 The old queen is moved to a new place.
In this hive she will stay with young bees that must be shaken from
the brood combs. The easiest way to do this is to hold the frame in
one hand over the new hive and then tap it firmly with your other
hand with your other hand, so that the bees fall off. Two thirds of
the combs must be treated in this way. Remember that most of the
flight bees will return to the old hive and therefore the new hive
must be overcrowded. Put foundation frames and empty comb
frames in this new hive together with pollen and honey frames so
that the queen can continue to lay eggs. Do not put brood combs in
the hive. These must stay in the old hive where the colony will
make new queen cells.
With both methods several queen cells will be produced in the hive
without a queen. In order to eliminate the chance of swarming, it is
best to check these colonies 9 - 10 days after dividing and then to take
away all queen cells except the biggest one, from which the queen will
emerge. The queen cells that have been removed can be used in other
colonies to replace old queens. Take care to handle a mature queen
cell with care and keep it upright. With a simple pin or a needle the
66
cell can be attached to the comb of a colony without a queen. Take

care that the colony into which you introduce the queen cell, has been
without a queen for more than one day, but not longer than 3 days.
Only then will the colony accept the new cell.
If you want to divide the colony and you cannot find the queen it is
possible just to divide the colony in two equal parts.The one colony in
a new place with more young bees (purposely shaken off by the beekeeper) and the other one in the old place with all flight bees. After 4
days the beekeeper can inspect both colonies and see where the queen
is present ( look for eggs!) and then re-arrange the two colonies according to the above principles. While re-arranging you must make
sure not to transfer the queen by mistake. The latter method is a good
solution where queens are difficult to find in big or defensive colonies.
Absconding
African bees often depart from their hive by absconding instead of the
normal swarming process. They abscond simply because there is not
enough food or water or because of disturbances caused by the beekeepers; they are for instance, particularly sensitive to their brood
frames being removed. Disturbances by ants,other pests or animals,
can lead to absconding. The bees simply try to find a better place to
overcome their difficulties.
This behaviour also has an advantage for the beekeeper. The colonies
travel mostly in considerable numbers every year at the same time
along certain paths from one area to another. The beekeeper could try
to find out how, where and when the main stream of absconding bees
is moving. By placing beehives in the path of the absconding bee
colonies the beekeeper will be certain of catching as many colonies as
needed.
The best way to avoid absconding is to protect the bees from disturbances and to ensure a certain amount of food (at least four or five
combs full of honey) is provided.
67
The honey harvest
The time to harvest honey depends on the flowering period of the beeforage plants and the extent of the honeyflow. There are some rules
which you should keep in mind when harvesting honey:
? Only remove combs with capped honey; uncapped honey contains
too much water and will start to ferment.
? Do not take any honeycombs containing brood. In the fixed comb
hives only take away the combs at the sides of the hive. In hives
with loose frames only take the frames out of the honey area and, at
the most, the side frames out of the brood chamber.
? Sometimes more is paid for certain kinds of pure honey than for a
mixture of different kinds of honey and it is then worthwhile harvesting this kind of honey separately.
8.1
Collecting honeycomb
In fixed comb hives, where only the side walls can be removed, you
should first blow some smoke into the hive through the flight entrance. You then drive all the bees to one side of the hive with smoke,
and then cut away the light-coloured (new) combs, leaving about 1 cm
of comb. The bees will rebuild a complete honeycomb on this strip of
comb.
Hives that only have a loose bottom board are carefully turned upside
down after quite a lot of smoke has been blown into them. The bottom
board is loosened and pushed aside a little. When the bees have moved
down, cut off the new combs against one side of the hive, leaving
about 1 cm of comb. Then move the bottom board so that you can do
the same on the other side of the hive. To avoid robbing you should
place the combs you have cut off in a pot or bucket that can be closed.
It is advisable to put combs with little or no capped honey into a separate container. This will mean that the rest of the honey harvested will
keep longer as it has a lower water content.
Honey harvesting from top bar hives and frame hives is much easier,
but only combs with capped honey must be taken out for extraction. In
68
the weeks before the harvest the beekeeper can take precautions in
order not to have brood in the combs he wants to extract by repositioning these combs outside the brood centre. In this way the queen is
prevented from using them again for egg laying. This can be done in a
simple way by means of a queen excluder.
When starting harvesting first blow some smoke under the lid of the
hive. Wait a while and then take the frames with capped honey out of
the honey super and brush off the bees. If you place damp cloths over
the other frames, not many bees will fly off. If you want to harvest
wax as well as honey, cut off the honeycomb, leaving a strip of 1 cm
on the top bar. If you only want to collect the honey, then you must
spin the combs in a centrifugal honey extractor. You should always
either fill up the empty spaces in the honey super, or remove it.
8.2
Extracting the honey
There are three ways of extracting honey:

1 Floating
Floating is the simplest, but takes the longest, which is especially
disadvantageous in the rainy season (honey is hygroscopic and will
absorb water from the air in times of high humidity) unless you
work with closed containers.
2 Pressing
Pressing honey is more work, but takes less time.
3 Centrifuging
The advantage of centrifuging is that you can extract the honey very
quickly and that you can use the combs again.
Honey should be processed in a space where bees cannot enter (all
openings must be closed with fine wire mesh). It is also possible to
work in the evening. You can also spin honey in a tent which seals
well with the ground so that there are no gaps. If necessary you can
store well-capped frames in a well-sealed container. If your honey
contains too much water, you can dry your uncapped honey by making a chimney of the honey supers and blowing air through them with
The honey harvest
69
a ventilator. If you place newspapers on the floor of the room you can
easily remove spilt honey.
Floating the wax
Remove the wax caps of the capped
honey cells with an uncapping fork or
knife (figure 28 and figure 29). Uncapping knives must be well filed and razor sharp. At temperatures of less than
25 C you can make uncapping easier
by holding the uncapping tool in a basin of hot water for a short while (but
do dry it before use).
Figure 28: Uncapping fork.

(Source: Imkers Encyclopedie, B.van Aarst).
The combs are broken into small

pieces and placed in a pot or other
container. The container is sealed to
make it airtight. After a few days Figure 29: Uncapping knife.
the wax which has floated to the top (Source: Imkers Encyclopecan be skimmed off. The honey is die, B.van Aarst).
strained through a clean cloth, nylon stocking or special honey sieve and is again put away for a day.
Any foam and wax particles which have floated to the surface can be
skimmed off and the honey can then be put into jars.
Pressing the honey
Scrape open the combs, break them into pieces and tie them up in a
clean cloth (cheese cloth, sheet, pillow case). Knead the combs in the
cloth and then press the honey through the cloth. You can wring out
the cloth (you need two people for this, or one person and a fixed
point), but it is faster to work with a wooden press. There are various
press constructions (figure 30).
Pour the honey through a clean cloth or sieve into a pot or maturing
vessel and leave it to stand for a few days. Any remaining wax particles and pollen grains will float to the top and can be skimmed off.
70
Then pour the honey into a storage jar (airtight). If you want to be able
to fill small pots and jars easily you could use a container with a tap
(figure 31).
Figure 30: Simple honey presses.
Figure 31: Container made from a petrol tin, for filling jars (left) and
a plastic container with tap (right).
Centrifuging the honey
Requirements: centrifugal honey extractor; uncapping knives or forks;
one or two basins 15 cm deep made of aluminium, tin, galvanised iron
or plastic, in which a few uncapped frames can stand; an uncapping
tray; a honey strainer or nylon stocking; cheese cloth and a vessel.
The combs must be uncapped before you centrifuge the frames. With a
knife (preheated if necessary) cut away the cell caps in one movement.
Irregularities in the comb, however, will mean that some of the cells
will remain capped. It is slower but more accurate to work with an
The honey harvest
71
uncapping fork. In is best to uncap over an uncapping tray with a

wooden bar on which the frame rests. You can leave the wax caps to
drain. If you later melt the wax caps you will obtain first-grade wax.
The centrifugal honey extractor consists of a cylindrical kettle in
which a cage made of a frame covered with strong wire mesh turns on
an axle (figure 32).
In this kind of centrifugal honey extractor 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 frames can be extracted at the same time. The cage in
which the frames are placed is turned by
means of a handle with gears. The honey
is thrown out of the combs against the
inside walls of the kettle. A handy blacksmith can make these centrifugal honey
extractors using, for example, some cogs
from an old gear box.
Figure 32: Modern centrifugal honey extractor
for 3 frames.
It is even possible to centrifuge parts of

the comb or top bar combs into a centrifugal extractor. In that case you must
make wire baskets in which the comb pieces are tightly enclosed. The
baskets are handled as though these are frames. The pieces of comb
can be re-used again in the hive, re-attaching them to top bars with
pieces of string or straws. Alternatively,the remaining comb can be
used for wax processing.
You can also make a simple centrifugal honey extractor from a few
wooden beams, a few wheels, strong wire mesh and plastic (figure
33). Make a square cage into which you can fit four frames placed on
their side. This cage is covered with strong wire mesh. Fix an axle in
the centre of the cage. Make a wooden frame in which the cage can
turn easily, and high enough to hold a bucket or pot beneath the cage.
The inside of the frame is covered with a sheet of plastic against
which the honey is collected. Plastic is also stretched under the cage in
such a way that the honey all runs to one side and can be collected in a
72
pot or bucket. A beam is fixed diagonally across the top of the frame
and the driving mechanism is attached to this beam. Make the big
wheel as big as possible and the small wheel as small as possible. One
can use good quality rope, with the ends plaited together, as drive belt.
One can also use the peddling mechanism of an old bicycle.
Figure 33: Simple centrifugal honey extractor made from wood.
There is a tap at the bottom of the kettle. Beneath this tap place the
honey sieve or the nylon stocking through which the honey runs into a
bucket or straight into the vessel. Turn in the direction of the bottom
bar (as the cells face the top bar). First turn the handle slowly, otherwise the weight of the honey inside the comb will press the comb
through the wire mesh of the cage. Then position the frames in reverse
and turn the handle until the cells on this side of the combs are completely empty. Finally turn the combs once again and turn the handle
until the cells on the first side of the combs are also completely empty.
The empty combs are put into a honey super and given back to the
colony, so that they can lick the cells clean. If there is no longer any
honeyflow the old combs must be removed. New ones can be stored.
Leave the honey in the maturing vessel for a few days so that air bubbles and wax particles can float to the top. Skim these off and pour the
honey into airtight pots or containers.
The honey harvest
73
8.3
Storing the honey
Store the honey in glass jars or plastic buckets with well-sealing lids
or in metal containers which have been coated on the inside with a
layer of liquid paraffin or plastic, or which have been treated with
acid-resistant varnish. In humid areas the honey must be stored in airtight containers within a few days after extraction.
The honey can start to ferment during storage if the water content is
too high ( >19% ).
Fermentation can be prevented by heating the honey to a temperature
of 55 or 60 C over a period of 8 hours, followed by rapid cooling.
However, heating the honey for too long will cause both the taste and
smell of the honey to deteriorate. Heated honey is of an inferior quality as the enzymes are broken down.
74
Processing the wax
Beeswax melts at temperatures between 63 and 65 C. Overheated or

burnt wax is worthless. Wax that has been melted in iron, copper or
zinc pots looses its smell and colour. Slow heating over a long period
has the same effect. The quality of beeswax is judged from its colour
and purity. Light wax has the highest value.
Old combs are dark and must be processed separately, but they yield
very little wax and are hardly worth the trouble.
The wax must be washed before it is melted. Put the combs in clean
water. Do not use tap water if you know that it is very alkaline, or add
a tablespoon of vinegar to every litre of water. The wax must be
melted down to purify it further. Of the various possible methods of
doing this, only the straining method and the solar wax extractor will
be described.
9.1
Straining the wax
? Place the combs and cell capping in clean water and leave them to
soak for several hours so that any remaining honey is dissolved.
Use an enamelled, aluminium or plastic basin or bucket.
? Tie up the wax in a clean cloth. Put this in twice its volume of clean
water and heat this until the wax has melted (70-80 C). Do not let
the water boil! The wax should not touch the bottom of the pot so
you should jam a piece of wood in the bottom of the pot. Place a
heavy object on top of the bag of wax so that it remains submerged.
The wax will filter through the cloth and float to the top.
? Pour the warm water and wax mixture through a strainer or a clean
cloth and use two sticks or something similar to squeeze the last of
the wax out of the first cloth.
? Leave the water and wax mixture to cool. If you have first rinsed
the pot with soapy water you will be able to remove the wax cake
without any further trouble. If not, cut the wax cake loose from the
sides of the pot.
Processing the wax
75
To obtain even purer wax, you

must first let the wax set, scrape
off the dirt at the bottom of the
wax cake and then melt the wax
again. To do this use a double
boiler or a pot floating in a second pot of water (figure 34).
Then you can again scrape the
impurities from the bottom of Figure 34: Heating wax indirectly.
the wax cake.
9.2
Solar wax extractor/uncapping tray
This consists of two basins which fit on top of each other, and a lid
made of a wooden frame and two sheets of glass or transparent plastic
with a space of 5-10 mm between them (figure 35).
The top tray is 20 cm high and wide
enough for a frame from the honey super to be suspended by its handles from
the sides of the tray. The bottom is
made of fine wire mesh. In this tray
you put the frames or the cell capping
which are to be melted. The bottom
tray has sides about 7 cm high and a
bottom made of zinc. This tray collects
the molten wax. To ensure that the trays
and the lid do not move apart you
should fix protruding metal corners on Figure 35: Solar wax extwo sides of both trays. To obtain a tractor/uncapping tray.
high temperature in the solar wax extractor you should paint it black and make sure that is closes well. It
might help to put a flat stone on top of the wire mesh. This will absorb
even more solar heat and then the combs or frames can be placed on
top. Prop the solar wax extractor at a slight angle, facing the sun, so
that the wax runs to one side. The wax can be melted again in hot wa-
76
ter so that it can be formed into cakes. This solar wax melter can also
be easily used as an uncapping tray when spinning honey. For this
purpose, the lid is removed and two bars are placed over the top tray.
The frame that is to be uncapped can rest on these bars. During uncapping the cell capping fall onto the wire mesh at the bottom of the
top tray and the honey drains through this into the bottom tray. Frames
that have been uncapped on both sides can be placed against the side
wall of the top tray until they can be put into the centrifugal honey
extractor.
You can melt the wax once again to purify it further (see above). For
beeswax to retain its smell it should be wrapped in plastic and kept in
a cool dark place. Always check your storage for the presence of wax
moth.
Processing the wax
77
10 Collecting pollen
When the bees are collecting a lot of pollen you can use a pollen trap,
placed in front of the flight entrance, to collect the pollen pellets.
After a few days move the trap to another hive so that the colonies are
not deprived of too much of their protein supply. The pollen trap is a
simple box (figure 36) open at the front and back.
Figure 36: Pollen trap. (Source: Imkers Encyclopedie, B.van

Aarst).
In this box you place a grid (two layers of 5 mm wire mesh spaced 8
mm apart, or a perforated board) through which the bees must crawl.
When passing the grid they loose their pollen pellets which fall
through a layer of wire mesh (3.6-4.2 mm) in the bottom of the box,
into a collecting tray.
The pollen trap is moved up against the flight entrance and the flight
entrance on either side of the trap is closed with a little piece of board
or foam plastic. Make sure than no rain falls into the collecting tray. It
is best to empty the pollen trap every day to avoid mould.
The pollen can be dried in the sun (for some hours) and stored in
closed jars in a cool place. For the pollen to retain its nutritional value
it must be stored in the deep freeze or covered with a layer of honey.
You can eat the pollen yourself or save it to feed to the bees in dearth
periods.
78
11 Diseases and pests

11.1 Diseases
Nosema
(only in A. mellifera)
Symptoms:
The bees show no external symptoms. This disease is often accompanied by diarrhoea. There is poor brood nest development.
Description:
This is a disease of adult bees, which is caused by a single-celled organism which affects the sides of the intestines.It can be detected by
microscope. The disease often occurs after a long rest period. If sufficient pollen can be collected the disease has little effect.
Treatment:
? All the frames of afflicted colonies should be replaced with clean
frames. The frames can be disinfected by placing them in a box
with a saucer of glacial acetic acid on top of them, or the combs can
be melted down.
? Replace the bottom board and clean it thoroughly.
? Do not unite weak colonies (they may be diseased) with strong
colonies.
? Supply clean drinking water if this is not available near the bee
colonies.
? Strengthen diseased colonies by feeding them with soya flour or
skimmed milk etc. Watch out for robbing, as this can spread the disease.
? Chemical: with fumigator (e.g. Fumidil). Dosage: 75 to 100 g active
component to 3.5 l sugar solution (sugar to water = 2 : 1).
Diseases and pests
79
European foul brood

Symptoms:
? The larvae die before the cells are capped (pupation).
? The diseased larvae turn from white to a dirty yellow and then to
brown.
? There is a sour smell in the hive.
? There are many open cells in the combs with capped brood.
? The workers drag out the dead larvae.
Description:
The disease is caused by bacteria which attack the larvae at an early
stage. When there are no larvae the disease cannot persist.
Treatment:
? Remove the severely affected frames and melt them down. Provide
frames from unaffected colonies.
? Lock up the queen in a queen cage in the hive for 5 to 10 days so
that the workers have a chance to remove all the diseased larvae.
When this has been done release her again.
? Chemical: (in combination with the above) treat with an antibiotic
(tetramycine, sulfathiazole etc.) mixed with sugar solution
(sugar:water = 1:1).
American foul brood
(not present yet in most parts of S. America, sub-saharan Africa and
Asia)
Symptoms:
? The bees die in the larval or pupal stage (capped brood).
? The cell capping of the affected larvae are indented.
? The brood nest is irregular.
? In the affected cells you will find a sticky mass, which forms
threads when you remove it from the cell with a matchstick.
? There is a smell of glue (glutton) in the hive.
? Affected larvae are dark brown to black.
80
Description:
The disease is caused by spore forming bacteria and is very contagious. The bacteria infect the larva and the disease is transferred
through infected frames and hives, but also through honey.
Treatment:
Burn all the bees and frames of an infected colony in a hole in the
ground. Scorch the chambers, bottom board and lids clean, and then
wash them with water and washing soda. Prevent spreading of the disease by not feeding any honey, and by not exchanging combs, frames
or hives.
Sac brood
Symptoms:
? In general quite similar to European foul brood, but without a sour
smell.
? Larvae die in an early stage, leaving a watery sac at the bottom of
the cells.
? The watery sac turns into leatherlike scales.
Description:
This disease is caused by a virus. In A.mellifera the disease is not serious, but in A.cerana a certain strain causes a hazard to many colonies.
This strain is called Thai sacbrood virus. There is a genetic base for
this disease. Initially only few colonies are resistant, but new generations show more resistance.
Treatment:
? Continue beekeeping with colonies that show no disease. Take new
queens from these colonies only.
? Do not exchange frames, combs, hives among your colonies.
? Lock up the queen in a cage in the hive for 5 to 10 days in case of
slight infestation.
? Do not let your colonies migrate into other areas.
Diseases and pests
81
11.2 Pests
Varroa mite
(only a pest in A. mellifera, not present yet in sub-saharan Africa)
Symptoms:
? On the flight board and against the hive you will find bees that can
no longer fly, with deformed wings.
? You will find reddish brown spots the size of a pinhead on the adult
bees.
? You will see patches of dead capped brood, sometimes gnawed
open (= heavy infestations).
Diagnosis:
You can use the following method to find out whether a colony is infested or not: Cut a piece of thick white paper of cardboard the size of
the bottom board and slide it into the hive through the flight entrance.
Then blow a fair amount of tobacco smoke into the hive and close the
hive for 5 minutes with a piece of board or foam plastic. After an hour
or more remove the paper or cardboard carefully from the hive and
examine it for Varroa mites (NB: there may also be other mites in the
hive).
Description:
Adult female Varroa mites are dark reddish-brown and about 1 mm
long and 1.5 mm wide. They are roughly egg-shaped (use a magnifying glass 10x!), unlike other mites which are oblong or round in shape.
The females enter the brood cells just before these are capped and
produce eggs during the capped brood stage The larvae of the mites
suck the bee pupae which either die or emerge as deformed adult bees.
A colony will usually have been infested for one or two years before
you will suspect, from the weakness of the colony, that it has been infested.
Treatment:
? Isolate the severely infested colonies in a separate apiary.
82
? If the infestation is still at an early stage, you can keep it under control by regularly (once every two weeks) cutting out all the capped
drone brood. The mites have a preference for drone brood. Drone
brood comb can be obtained by introducing frames with a strip of
comb shortly before the swarming period.
? Tobacco smoke. This is a cheap but only partly effective method.
For each colony burn up between 3 and 6 g of tobacco and blow
this into the hive. Then close the hive for 5 minutes. Repeat this
treatment four times at intervals of 5 days. It is best to carry out the
treatment in the evening when the bees are all home.
? Longer broodless periods with a queen caged for about 2 weeks in
the colony, combined with destroying combs with brood, can be
fairly effective. This should be done in the dearth season.
? Try to get information on the Varroa treatments from your Ministry
of Agriculture or any other beekeeping agency.
Wax moth
Symptoms:
? Grey caterpillars 0.5 to 2.5 cm long can be seen scrawling over the
top bars when you remove the inner lid.
? Combs are affected and the spaces between the combs are covered
in spider webs.
? Whole combs are eaten up and changed into a grey-black mass spun
together with webs.
Description:
This pest occurs in weak colonies which cannot occupy all the frames,
and in supplies of unused frames with comb. There are two kinds of
wax moth, the larger and the smaller wax moth, 2 and 1 cm long respectively and both grey. They lay their eggs in cracks and grooves.
The eggs hatch into caterpillars which move to the frames.
Treatment:
? Always remove frames from the colony which cannot be occupied
by bees and store these in a protected place.
Diseases and pests
83
? Transfer lightly affected frames to the strong colonies. The bees will
clean them and repair them.
? Put the affected frames in a closed area and treat them with glacial
acetic acid or smoke of burning sulphur.
? Store frames with good comb in an airtight container or box which
you disinfect from time to time as mentioned above. Watch out for
mould.
Ants and termites
Symptoms:
? The presence of ants and termites in and around the hive.
? Extremely restless bees and a buzzing sound near the flight entrance.
? Dead and half eaten bees around the hives.
? The hive has been abandoned by the bees.
? Wood with holes ( only soft wood will be affected).
Description:
Brown or black insects, 0.5 to 2 cm long, which operate in groups and
attack weak colonies by consuming honey and dragging out brood.
Some kinds of ants operate only at night.
Treatment:
? Provide a good barrier between the ground and the hives. You can
do this by placing the legs of the stands in basins with a cover to
protect them from the sun and to prevent bees from falling into
them. You can also apply a layer of grease to the legs of the bee
stands which are protected by a cap of plastic, zinc or aluminium.
? Make sure that no weeds grow below the hives, allowing the ants to
climb up to the hives.
? Suspend the hives with wire.
? Make the bee hives and stands of fairly hard wood known to be resistant to termites.
? Treat the wood with creosote.
84
Cattle and game

Symptoms:
Knocked-over hives, brood that has been pulled out of the frames,
hoof or paw-prints.
Description:
Bears, cows, etc. can cause considerable damage and also suffer considerable damage themselves when they come too close to or get into
the hives.
Prevention:
If you experience disturbances of this kind, fence in the apiary with a
fence of poles, wire or bamboo or a hedge.
Robbing
Symptoms:
? Flights between bees at the flight entrance.
? Dead bees under the hive.
? The colonies are restless and irritable.
Description:
In dearth periods when the bees detect honey or sugar solution in the
hives of other colonies, they attempt to remove these. Strong colonies
can defend themselves against this, but weak colonies will not be able
to do so and are either killed in their attempt to defend the hive or abscond after a while.
Prevention:
? Never spill honey or sugar solution outside the hives.
? Feeding must always be done in the hive so that the bees only have
access to the sugar from inside the hive. It is best to give the sugar
solution in the evening.
? In weak colonies always make the flight entrance small (5 cm).
Diseases and pests
85
? Ensure that the hives are well closed and have only one flight entrance.
Loss of queen
Symptoms:
? Bees are restless in the hive.
? There is a wailing sound in the hive.
? There is either no brood or drone brood in worker cells.
? If there are eggs there is more than one egg to a cell.
Pesticide poisoning
Symptoms:
There are many dead bees on the ground in front of the hive. The bees
are not damaged. If the bees are not all dead, they are very quiet.
Description:
If the bees are in an agricultural area which is regularly sprayed with
insecticide, the beekeeper runs the risk of having his bees poisoned
when they visit the sprayed plants.
Prevention:
? Keep in touch with the farmers and make them aware of the detrimental effects. Together try to find a less toxic insecticide.
? Ask the farmers to let you know when they are going to spray. If
they let you know:
? Provide the hives with a ventilation screen, sprinkle water over
the screen and close the flight entrance. The hives must remain in
the shade and be watered every day. Open the hives again after 2
days.
? Temporarily move the hives from the area.
? For information on the toxicity of various pesticides, we refer
you to Agrodok 29: Pesticides; compounds, use and hazards.
86

Table 3: Sizes and dimensions relating to beekeeping for several
races of honeybees (A.mellifera and A.cerana)
A.mellifera
European
East Africa
(A.m.scutellata)
A.cerana
Nepal
India:
Kashmir
High Himalayas
Sub Himalayas
Central India
South India
Phillippines
Vietnam:
North
South
comb spacing(mm)
cell width(mm)
slot width queen

excluder(mm)
35
5.3
4.2
32
4.8
4.4
30
3.5
35
31
31
32
32
30
4.8
4.9
4.7
4.5
4.3
4.7
4.1
4.0
3.8
3.5
-
31
26
4.7
4.3
87
Appendix 2: Uses for beeswax

Adapted from Peace Corps publication; Small scale beekeeping; Appropriate Technologies for Development by C. Gentry, Washington.
USA.
1 Grafting wax for horticultural purposes.
2 Treatment for cracked hooves.
3 Furniture/wood polish.
4 Floor polish.
5 Leather waterproofer
88
Further reading
IBRA, Source Materials for Apiculture. 1985. A series of 10 leaflets.
Crane A, Bees and Beekeeping. 1990. Science, practice and world
resources; 614 pages, Heineman, London.
FAO, Tropical and Subtropical Apiculture, 1986. FAO Agric. Service Bulletin no. 68; 283 pages.
FAO, Beekeeping in Asia. 1987. FAO Agric. Service Bulletin no.
68/4, 112 pp.
FAO, Honeybee diseases and enemies in Asia: a practical guide.,
1987. FAO Agric.Service Bulletin 68/5; 51 pages.
Claus B., Beekeeping Handbook, 1982. 87 pp. Botswana.
Adjake S., The Golden Insect: a handbook on beekeeping for beginners, 1984. 2nd. edition; 104 pp. Ghana.
Villires B. Le point sur l'apiculture en Afrique Tropicale., 1987.
GRET, Paris; 220 pp. Available at GRET, 213 Rue la Fayette, 75010,
Paris, France.
Espina D., Beekeeping of the assassin bees., 1986. 170 pp. Costa
Rica.
Ordetx G.S., Apicultura tropical (Spanish), 1986. 506 pp. Costa
Rica.
Further reading
89
Useful addresses
The ministry which concerns itself with beekeeping in your country.
IBRA: The International Bee Research Association,
8 North Road,
Cardiff CF1 3DY,
United Kingdom.
IBRA has collected information on all aspects of beekeeping in the
tropics. You can order the section of the Bibliography of Tropical
Apiculture relevant to your area from the above address. In the Bibliography you will find listed: the literature on bees and beeforage
plants, beekeeping projects and organizations which concern themselves with the promotion of beekeeping. IBRA has an extensive library. Some information leaflets and posters are available free of
charge to persons in the tropics.
NECTAR (Netherlands Expertise Centre for Tropical Apiculture Resources), NECTAR is a group of persons who have experience in all
types of beekeeping n the tropics. They can support beekeeping developments for groups of organized beekeepers with technical assistance.
P.O.Box 141,
6720 AC Bennekom,
The Netherlands.
90

Beekeeping in The Tropics

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Beekeeping in The Tropics

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Agrodok 32

Beekeeping in the tropics

Agromisa Foundation, Wageningen, 2004.

The value of beekeeping

Species and races of bees

Composition of the colony

The daily life of a colony

The practice of beekeeping

The first season

Beekeeping in the tropics

Preparing for the honey harvest

The honey harvest

Processing the wax

11 Diseases and pests

Appendix 1: Sizes and dimensions

Appendix 2: Uses for beeswax

The value of beekeeping

Honey consists mostly ( 80%) of sugars that are readily absorbed by

Wax is used in the manufacture of cosmetics, candles, foundation

Beekeeping in the tropics

Pollen and Propolis

The value of beekeeping

Beekeeping in the tropics

Species and races of bees

Species and races of bees

species. However, there are also important differences, especially in

Beekeeping in the tropics

Species and races of bees

Composition of the colony

Figure 1: Queen (A), drone (B) and worker (C).

Beekeeping in the tropics

Composition of the colony

fructose). When the honey is sufficiently concentrated the cell is

Beekeeping in the tropics

Composition of the colony

The life span of the workers depends on their degree of activity. If a

Beekeeping in the tropics

The daily life of a colony

Everyone must have seen a swarm of bees at some time or another.

The development of the bee

Table 2: The approximate development phase in days of different

The duration of the approximate worker brood stage of African

The development of the colony

Beekeeping in the tropics

Figure 3: Frame from a brood nest at three consecutive stages in

The daily life of a colony

Preparation for swarming starts with the building of swarm cups.

Beekeeping in the tropics

Absconding from the hive

Occasionally an entire colony leaves the hive, abandoning the brood

The daily life of a colony

Replacement of the queen

Beekeeping in the tropics

a laying queen. In cases of irrevocable loss of the queen provide a

The daily life of a colony

The practice of beekeeping

Some basic characteristics of bees

Figure 4: Cross section of top bars and combs.

It is very important in movable comb beekeeping to know that this bee

Beekeeping in the tropics

The practice of beekeeping

act violently to a bee sting (perspiration, dizziness) it is advisable to

Fixed comb hives